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BORDER AND BASTILLE 



/1^ 
BORDER AND BASTILLE. 



THE AUTHOR OF "GUY LIYINGSTOKE," 



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^m f0ri: 

W. I. POOLEY & CO., 
Harpers* Building, Franklin Square 









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WyNKO0P,HALLENBECK & THOMAS, PRINTERS, 
No. 113 Fulton Stebbt, New Yobk. 



L'ENVOL 



When, late in last autumn, I determined to 
start for the Confederate States as soon as neces- 
sary preparations could be completed, I had list- 
ened, not only to my own curiosity, impelling me 
at least to see one campaign of a war, the like of 
which this world has never known, but also to 
the suggestions of those who thought that I might 
find materials there for a book that would inter- 
est many here in England. My intention, from 
the first, was to serve as a volunteer-aide in the 
sfcafif of the army in Virginia, so long as I should 
find either pen-work or handiwork to do. The 
South might easily have gained a more efficient 
recruit; but a more earnest adherent it would 
have been hard to find. I do not attempt to 
disguise the fact that my predilections were thor- 
oughly settled long before I left England ; indeed, 
it is the consciousness of a strong partisan spirit 
at my heart which has made me strive so hard, 
not only to state facts as accurately as possible, 
but to abstain from coloring them with involun- 
tary prejudice. 



VI 



To say nothing of my being afterwards backed 
by the powerful Secessionist interest at Balti- 
more, the introductory letters furnished me by 
Colonel Dudley Mann and Mr. Slidell, addressed 
to the most influential personages — civil and mili- 
tary — in the Confederacy, from President Davis 
downwards, were such as could hardly have failed 
to secure me the position I desired, though they 
benevolently over estimated the qualifications of 
the bearer. To the first of these gentlemen I am 
indebted for much kindness and valuable advice : 
to the second I am personally unknown ; and I am 
glad to have this opportunity of acknowledging 
his ready courtesy. It was Colonel Mann who 
counseled my going through the Northern States, 
instead of attempting to run the blockade from 
Nassau or Bermuda, as I had originally intended. 
In spite of the events, I am so certain that the 
advice was sound and wise, that I do not re- 
pent — scarcely regret — ^having followed it. 

I need not particularize the precaution taken 
to insure the safe delivery of these credentials : it 
is sufficient to state that they were never submit- 
ted to Federal inspection ; nor had I ever, at any 
time, in my possession, a single document which 



vu 

could vitiate my claim to the rights of a neutral 
and civilian. Even Mr. Seward did not pretend to 
refuse liberty of unexpressed sympathy with either 
side to an utter foreigner. While I was a free 
agent in the Northern States, I was careful to in. 
dulge in no other. 

Since my return, I hear that some one has been 
kind enough to insinuate that I might have suc- 
ceeded better if I had been more careful to pros- 
ecute my journey South with vigor at any risk; 
or if I had been less imprudent in parading my 
object while in Baltimore. I prefer to meet the 
first of these assertions by a simple record of facts, 
and by the most unqualified denial that it is pos- 
sible to give to any falsehood, written or spoken. 
As to the second — really quite as unfounded — ^it 
may be well to say, that before I had been a full 
fortnight in America, I was " posted " in the lit- 
erary column of *^ Willis' Home Journal." I could 
not quarrel with the terms in which the intelli- 
gence — avowedly copied from an English paper — 
was couched. The writer seemed to know rather 
more about my intentions — ^if not of my antece- 
dents — than I knew myself; but I can honestly 
say that the halo of romance with which he was 



Tin L'ENVOI. 

pleased to surround a very practical purpose, did 
not however compensate me for the inconvenient 
publicity. This paragraph soon found its way into 
other journals, and at last confronted me — to my 
infinite disgust — in the "Baltimore Clipper," a 
bitter Unionist organ. 

Perhaps this will answer sufficiently the accu- 
sation of " parade," for even had we been disposed 
to indulge in an " alarum and flourish of trum- 
pets," the sensation-mongers would have antici- 
pated the absurdity. Besides this, my movements 
were not in anywise interfered with up to the mo- 
ment of my arrest, when we were miles beyond 
all Federal pickets. My captors, of course, had 
never heard of my existence till we met. It is 
more than probable that the report just referred 
to did greatly complicate my position when I was 
actually in confinement ; but here my person — not 
my plans — suffered, and here, the real mischief of 
that very involuntary publicity began and ended. 

After my plans were finally arranged, I had an 
interview with the editorial powers of the Morn- 
ing Post ; there it was settle^ that I should com- 
municate to that journal as constantly as circum- 
stances would permit, any interesting matter or 



IX 



incidents that fell in my way, in consideration of 
which was voted a liberal supplement of the sin- 
ews of war; but it was clearly understood that 
my movements and line of action were to be abso- 
lutely untrammeled. I could not have entered 
into any contract that in any way interfered with 
the primary object I had in view. I had no inten- 
tion of commencing such correspondence before I 
had actually crossed the southern frontier, so that 
one letter from Baltimore — afterwards quoted — 
was the solitary contribution I was able to furnish. 

I have said thus much, because I wish any one 
who may be interested on the point to know 
clearly on what footing I stood at starting : for 
the general public, of course, the subject cannot 
have the slightest interest. 

Of all compositions, I suppose, a personal narra- 
tive is the most wearing to the writer, if not to 
the reader; egotistical talk may be pleasant 
enough, but, commit it to paper, the fault carries 
its own punishment. The recurrence of that ever- 
lasting first pronoun becomes a real stumbling- 
block to one at last. Yet there is no evading 
it, unless you cast your story into a curt, succinct 
diary ; to carry this off effectively, requires a 



X l'envoi. 

succession of incidents, more varied and important 
than befell me. 

A failure — absolute and complete — however 
brought about, is a fair mark for mockery, if not 
for censure. Perhaps, however, I may hope that 
some of my readers, in charity, if not in justice, 
will believe that I have honestly tried to avoid 
over-coloring details of personal adventure, and 
that no word here is set down in willful insincerity 
or malice, though all are written by one whose 
enmity to all purely republican institutions will 
endure to his life's end. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

A Foul Start, ..... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

CONGRESSIA, ..... 23 

CHAPTER III. 
Capua, ...... 43 

CHAPTER lY. 
Friends in Council, . . . . 60 

CHAPTER V. 
The Ford, . . . . .19 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Ferry, . . . . . 109 

CHAPTER YIL 

Fallen Across the Threshold, . . .130 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Road to Avernus, . . . 153 

CHAPTER IX. 

Caged Birds, . . . • .172 



XU CONTENTS. 

FAOK 

CHAPTER X. 
Dark Days, . . . . . 190 

CHAPTER XI. 
Homeward Bound, .... 2l8 

CHAPTER XII. 
A Popular Armament, . . . 234 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Debatable Ground, . .255 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Slavery and the War, . . . 2t3 



BORDER AND BASTILLE. 



CHAPTER I. 



A FOUL START. 



Looking back on an experience of many lands 
and seas, I cannot recall a single scene more 
utterly dreary and desolate than that which 
awaited us, the outward-bound, in the early 
morning of the 20th of last December. The 
same sullen neutral tint pervaded and possessed 
everything — the leaden sky — the bleak brown 
shores over against us — the dull gray stone work 
lining the quays — the foul yellow water — shading 
one into the other, till the division-lines became 
hard to discern. Even where the fierce gust 
swept off the crests of the river wavelets, boiling 
and breaking angrily, there was scant contract of 
color in the dusky spray, or murky foam. 

The chafing Mersey tried in vain to make 
himself heard. All other sounds — a voice, for 
instance, two yards from your ear — were drowned 
by the trumpet of the strong northwester. All 
through the past night, we listened to that note 
of war ; we could feel the railway carriages 
trembling and quivering, as if shaken by some 
rude giant's hand, when they halted at any 
1 



2 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

exposed station ; and, this morning, the pilots 
shake their wise, grizzled heads, and hint at 
worse weather yet in the offing. For forty- 
eight hours the storm-signals had never been 
lowered, nor changed, except to intimate the 
shifting of a point or two in the current of the 
gale, and few vessels, if any, had been found 
rash enough to slight " the admiral's" warning. 

It had been gravely discussed, we heard after- 
wards, by the owners and captain of '^ The Asia," 
whether she shou Id venture to sea that day ; 
finally, the question was left to the latter to 
decide. There are as nice points of honor, and 
as much jealous regard for professional credit 
in the merchant service as in any other. Only 
once, since the line was started, has a " Cunarder " 
been kept in port by wind or weather — this was 
the commander's first trip across the Atlantic 
since his promotion ; you may guess which way 
the balance turned. 

We waited on the landing-stage one long cold 
hour. The huge square structure, ordinarily 
steady and solid as the mainland itself, was pitch- 
ing and- rolling not much less " lively " than a 
Dutch galliot in a sea-way ; and the tug that was 
to take us on board parted three hawsers before 
she could make fast alongside. It was hard to 
keep one's footing on the shaking, slippery bridge, 
but in ten minutes all staggered or tumbled, as 
choice or chance dh'ected, on to the deck of the 



A FOUL START. S 

little steamer. I was looking for a dry • corner, 
when an American passenger made room for me 
very courteously, and I began to talk to him 
— about the weather, of course. It was a keen, 
intellectual face, pleasant withal, and kindly, and 
in its habitual expression not devoid of genial 
humor. But, at that moment, it was possesesd 
by an unutterable misery. No w^ontler. 

" I was ill the whole way over from America," 
he said, " and then we started with bright 
weather and a fair wind." 

I was much attracted by the voice, betraying 
scarcely any Transatlantic accent : it was quiet 
and calm in tone, like that of any brave man on 
his way to encounter some irresistible pain or 
woe ; but saddened by an agony of anticipation, 
he presaged, only too truly, " the burden of the 
atmosphere and the wrath to come." 

Another struggle and scramble — and we are 
on board, at last. It is some comfort to ex- 
change that wretched little wet tug for the deck 
of the Asia; " tliough a trifle unsteady even now, 
she oscillates after the sober and stately fashion 
befitting a mighty " liner." Half an hour sees 
the end of the long stream of mail-bags, and the 
huge bales of newspapers shipped ; then the moor- 
ings are cast loose ; there rises the faintest echo 
of a cheer — who could be enthusiastic on such 
a morning? — the vast wheels turn slowly and 
sullenly, as if hating the hard work before them ; 
and we are fairly off. 



4 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

The waves and weather grew rapidly wilder ; 
as we neared blue water, just after passing the 
light, we saw a large ship driving helplessly 
and — the sailors said — liopelessly, among the 
breakers of the North Sands. She had tried to 
run in without a pilot, and ours seemed to think 
her fate the justest of judgments; but to dis- 
interested and unprofessional spectators the sight 
was very sad, and somewhat discouraging. So 
with omen and augury, as well as the wind dead 
against us. 

*' The Sword went out to sea/' 

All that day and night *' The Asia " staggered 
and weltered on through the yeasty channel 
wave-3, breaking in her passengers rather roughly 
for a conflict with vaster billows. Thirteen hours 
of hard steaming barely brought us abreast of 
Holyhead. The gale moderated towards morn- 
ing, and we ran along the Irish coast under a blue 
sky, making Queenstown shortly after sundown. 

By this time I had become acquainted with 
my cabin-mate, in which respect I was singularly 

fortunate. M. was a thorough Parisian, and 

a favorable specimen of his class. Small of 
stature, and slender of proportion — a very import- 
ant point where space is so limited — low-voiced, 
and sparing of violent expletives or gestures, 
delicately neat in his person and apparel, one 
could hardly have selected a more amiable col- 



A FOUL START. 



league under circumstances of some difficulty. I 
can aver that he conducted himself always with 
a perfect modesty and decorum : he would pre- 
serve his equilibrium miraculously, when his per- 
pendicular had been lost long ago : he never fell 
upon me but once (sleeping on a sofa, I was 
exposed defenselessly to all such contingencies), 
and then lightly as thistle-down. On the rare 
occasions when the mal-de-mcr proved too much 
for his valiant self-assertion, he yielded to an 
overruling fate without groan or complaint : fold- 
ing the scanty coverlet around him, he would 
subside gradually into his berth, composing his 
little limbs as gracefully as Caesar. His courtesy 
was invincible and untiring: he was anxious to 
defer and conform even to my insular prejudices. 
Discovering that I was in the habit of daily im- 
mersing in cold water — a feat not to be accom- 
plished without much toil, trouble, and abrasion 
of the cuticle — he thought it necessary to simu- 
late a like performance, though nothing would 
have tempted him to incur such needless danger. 
His endeavors to mislead me on this point, with- 
out actually committing himself, were ingenious 
and wily in the extreme. Sitting in the saloon 
at the most incongruous hours of day and night, 
he would exclaim, " J'ai Tidee de prendre bientot 
men bain i" or he would speak with a shiver of 
recollection of the imaginary plunge taken that 
I don't think I should ever have been 



6 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

deluded, even if my curiosity had not led me to 
question the steward ; but never, by word or look, 
did I impugn the reality of that Barmecide bath. 

To his other accomplishments, M. added a 

very pretty talent for piquet ; the match was even 
enough, though, to be interesting, at almost nom- 
inal stakes, and so we got pleasantly through 
many hours — dark, wet, or boisterous. 

We were not a numerous company — only 
thirty-three in all. Few amateurs travel at this 
inclement season. I knew only one other English- 
man on board, an officer in the Eifle Brigade, 
returning to Canada from sick-leave. Among 
the Americans was Cyrus Field, the energetic pro- 
moter of the Atlantic Telegraph, then making (I 
think he said) his thirtieth transit within five 
years. He was certainly entitled to the freedom 
of the ocean, if intimate acquaintance with every 
fathom of its depth and breadth could establish a 
claim. It rather surprised me, afterwards, to see 
sucli science and experience yield so easily to 
the common weakness of seafaring humanity. 
Mr. Field told me that throughout the fearful 
weather to which the Niac^ara and Acfamemnon 
w^ere exposed, on their first attempt to lay down 
the cable, he never once felt a sensation of 
nausea ; the body had not time to suffer till 
the mind was relieved from its heavy, anxious 
strain. 

For three days after leaving Queenstown, the 



A FOUL START. 7 

west winds met us, steady and strong; but it 
was not till the afternoon of Christmas day that 
the sea began to " get up" in earnest, and the 
weather to portend a gale. Then, the Atlantic 
seemed determined to prove that report had 
not exaggerated the hardships of a winter passage. 
It blew harder and harder aU Friday, and after a 
brief lull on Saturday — as though gathering 
breath for the final onset — the storm fairly reached 
its height, and then slowly abated, leaving us 
substantial tokens of its visit in the shape of 
shattered boats, and the ruin of all our port 
bulwarks forv/ard of the deck-house. I fancy 
there was nothing extraordinary in the tempest ; 
and, in a stout ship, with plenty of sea room, 
there is probably little real danger ; but about the 
intense discomfort there could be no question. I 
speak with no undue bitterness, for of nausea, in 
any shape, I know of little or nothing, but — oh, 
mine enemy ! — if I could feel certain you were 
well out in the Atlantic, experiencing, for just one 
week, the weather that fell to our lot^ I would 
abate much of my animosity, purely from satiation 
of revenge. 

Unless absolutely prostrated by illness, the 
voyager, of course, has a ravenous appetite ; 
such being the case, what can be more exas- 
perating than having to grapple with a sort of 
dioramic dinner, where the dishes represent a 
series of dissolving views — mutton and beef of 



8 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

mature age, leaping about with a playfulness only 
becoming living lambs and calves — while the 
proverb of "cup and lip" becomes a truism from 
perpetual illustration ? Neither is it agreeable, 
after falling into an uncertain doze, to feel 
dampness mingling strangely with your dreams, 
and to awake to find yourself, as it were, an 
island in a little salt lake formed by distillation 
through invisible crevices. 

"Oh, laith, laith were our gude Scot lords 
To wet their cork -heeled shoon," 

says the grand old ballad ; so, I suppose, it is 
nothing " unbecoming the character of an officer 
and a gentleman " to hold such midnight irriga- 
tion in utter abhorrence. 

On one of these occasions I abandoned a post 
no longer tenable, and went into the small saloon 
close by, to seek a dry spot whereon to finish the 
night. I found it occupied by a ghastly man, 
with long, wild gray hair, and a white face — 
striding staggeringly up and down — ^moaning to 
himself in a harsh, hollow voice, *' No rest ; I 
can't rest." He never spoke any other words, and 
never ceased repeating these, while I remained 
to hear him. Instantly there came back to my 
memory a horrible German tale, read and forgot- 
ten fifteen years ago, of a certain old and unjust 
steward, Daniel by name, who, having murdered 
his master by casting him down an oubliettes, ever 
haunted the fatal tower, first as a sleep-walker, 



A FOUL START. 9 

then as a restless ghost — moaning and gibbering 
to himself, and tearing at a walled-up door with 
bleeding hands. The train of thought thereby 
suggested was so very sombre, that I preferred 
returning to my cabin, and climbing into an 
unfurnished berth, to spending more minutes in 
that weird company. I never made the man out 
satisfactorily afterwards. It is possible that he 
was one of the few who scarcely showed on deck 
till we were in sight of land ; but rather, I 
believe, like other visions and voices of the night, 
he changed past recognition under the garish light 
of day. 

Then come the noi y nuisances, extending 
through all the diapason of sound. One — the 
most annoying — to which the ear never becomes 
callous by use, is the incessant crash, not only 
alongside, but overhead. At intervals — more 
frequent, of course, after our bulwarks were 
swept away — the green water came tumbling on 
board by tons ; and, being unable to escape 
quickly enough by the after- scuppers, surged 
backwards and forwards with every roll of the 
vessel, as if it meant to keep you down and 
bury you forever. Lying in my berth, I could 
feel the heavy seas smite the strong ship one 
cruel blow after another on her bows or beam, 
till at last she would seem to stop altogether, 
and, dropping her head, like a glutton in the 
P. R., would take her punishment sullenly, with" 
1* 



10 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

out an effort at rising or' resistance. Nevertheless, 
I stand by " The Asia," as a right good boat for 
rough weather, though she is not a flyer, and 
sometimes could hardly do more than hold her 
own. Eighty-one knots in the twenty-four hours 
was all the encouragement the log could give one 
day. 

I liked our commander exceedingly. He had 
just left the Mediterranean station, and there still 
abode with him a certain languid levantine soft- 
ness of voice and manner ; when he came in to 
dinner, out of the wild weather, the moral con- 
trast with the turmoil outside was quite refreshing. 
Report speaks highly of Captain Grace's seaman- 
ship ; and I believe in him far more implicitly 
than I should in one of those hoarse and bluster- 
ous Tritons, who think roughness and readiness 
inseparable, and talk to you as if they were hailing 
a consort. 

The library on board was not extensive, con- 
sisting (with the exception of " The Newcomes ") 
chiefly of religious works of the Nonconformist 
school, and tales, which have long ago passed into 
surplus stock, or been withdrawn from general 
circulation. But there was one invaluable novel, 
which I shall always remember gratefully. I 
never got quite through it, but I read enough 
to be enabled to affirm, that its principles are 
unexceptionable, its style grammatically faultless, 
and its purpose sustained (ah, how pitilessly!) 



A FOUL START. 11 

from first to last. The few amatory scenes are 
conducted with the most rigid propriety ; and 
when there occurs a lover's quarrel, the parties 
hurl high moral truths at each other, instead 
of idle reproaches. But it is mainly as a sopori-. 
fie, that I would recommend " Sihvood:^^ on 
four different occasions, under most trying cir- 
cumstances it succeeded perfectly and promptly 
with me, for which relief — unintentional, per- 
chance — I tender much thanks to the unknown 
author, and wish " more power to his arm." 

Quite crippled for the time being by rheu- 
matism, I was in bad form for clambering about 
the sloping, slippery planks ; nevertheless I did 
contrive to crawl up to the hurricane-deck just 
before sun-down, about the crisis of the gale. I 
confess to being disappointed in the " rollers ;" 
it may be that their vast breadth and volume 
takes off from their apparent height, but I 
scarcely thought it reached Dr. Scoresby's 
standard — from 25 to 30 feet, if I remember right, 
from trough to crest. One realizes thoroughly the 
abysmal character of the turbulent chaos, and 
there is a sensation of infiniteness around and 
below you not devoid of grandeur ; but as an 
exhibition of the puissance of angry water, I 
do not think the mid-ocean tempest equal to the 
storm which brings the thunder of the surf full 
on the granite bulwarks of Western Ireland. 

It must be owned, that the conversational 



12 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

powers of our small society were limited. Very 
often some selfishness mingled with my sincere 
compassion for the prostrated sufferings of my 
Philadelphian friend of the tug-boat; for when- 
ever his weary aching head would allow of the 
exertion, he could talk on almost any subject, 
fluently and well. He was returning from a long 
visit to Paris, and a rapid tour through Ger- 
many and Southern Europe. Most of the coun- 
tries, that he had been compelled to hurry over, I 
had loitered tlirough in days past, and I ought to 
have been shamed by the contrast in our recol- 
lections — his, so clear and systematical — mine, so 
vague and dim. An intellectual American travel- 
ling through strange lands does certainly look at 
nature, animate and inanimate, after a practi- 
cal business-like fashion peculiar to his race ; but 
it would be unfair to infer that such minds are, 
necessarily, unappreciative. At all events, that 
coiicentrative, synthetical power, that takes in 
surrounding objects at a single glance, and retains 
them in a tolerably distinct classification, is 
rather enviable, even as a mental accompl'sh- 
ment. 

We did not speak much about the troubles be- 
yond sea, and the Philadelphian was rather reserv- 
ed as to his proclivities. My impression is, that 
his sympathy tended rather southward (all his ear- 
ly life had been spent in Alabama), but he declined 
to commit himself much, nor do I believe that he 



A FOUL START. 13 

was a violent partisan either way. On one point 
he was very decided : Falkland himself could not 
have wished more devoutly for the termination of 
a fatal civil war — fatal, he said, to the interests, 
present and future, of both the combatant powers — 
ruinous to every class, with tv/o exceptions ; the 
adventurers who, having little to lose, gained, by 
joining the ranks of either army, a social position 
to which they could not otherwise have aspired ; 
and the spsculators, who, directly or indirectly, 
fairly or unfairly, made gains vast and unholy, 
such as wreckers are wont to gather in time of 
tempest and general disaster. He scarcely allud- 
ed to the corruption and peculation prevalent in 
all high places, diluted in its downward percola- 
tion till sutlers and horse-thieves would strive in 
vain to emulate the fraudulent audacity of their 
superiors. It was well he spared me then, for 
soon after landing, my eyes and ears grew weary 
with the repetition of all these ignoble details. 
To illustrate how heavily the taxes were already 
beginning to weigh on the non-militant part of 
the population, my informant proved to me by 
very clear figures that, if he individually could 
secure permanent exemption from such burdens 
by the absolute sacrifice of one-tenth of his whole 
property, real and personal, the commutation 
would be decidedly advantageous to him. '^ue, 
he represented a class whose incomes exceeded a 
certain standard, and therefore suffered rather 



14 ' BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

more heavily ; but the same calculation, with 
very slight alterations, applied to all other subord- 
inate ones. 

Grave and mild of speech was the Philadelphian 
philosopher, without a trace of dogmatism or self- 
assertion in his tone ; nevertheless, I judged him 
to be a man of mark somewhere, and I afterwards 
heard that, albeit not a violent or prominent pol- 
tician, he had great honor in his own country. 

Strong head-winds and a heavy sea baffled us 
till we had cleared the longitude of Cape Kace ; 
then the weather softened, the breeze veered round 
till it blew on our quarter, and we had clear sky 
above us all the way in. We sighted the first pilot- 
boat on the afternoon of January 3d, and, as she 
came sweeping down athwart us, with her broad, 
white wings full spread, our glasses soon made 
out the winning number of the sweepstakes, *' 22." 
It was long past dinner hour when the beautiful 
little schooner rounded to, under our lee, but all 
appetite just then was merged in a craving for 
latest intelligence. 

It was a caricaturist's study — the crowd of 
keen, anxious faces round the gangway — as the 
pilot came aboard. He was a stout man, of agri- 
cultural exterior, looking as if he were in the 
habit of ploughing anything rather than the deep 
sea^but it is the fashion of his guild to eschew 
the nautical as much as possible in their attire. 
The " anxious inquirers " got little satisfaction 



A FOUL START. 15 

from him — he seemed taciturn by nature, if not 
sullen — and they came back to where the rest 
of us stood on the hurricane deck, muttering 
discontentedly, " Gold at 46. No news." It 
seemed very odd — such a complete stagnation of 
affairs, military and civil — but we went to dinner 
in spite of our disappointment. Before we rose 
from table tlie truth began to ooze out. One 
or two New York papers, that had slipped on 
board with the pilot, were more communicative 
than he would or could be. 

Thousands of corpses, the full tale of which 
will never be known till the day of judgment, 
lying rolled in blood, with a handful of earth 
raked over them under the fatal Fredericks- 
burg heights ; the finest army in Federaldom 
hurled back upon its intrenchments ; nothing 
but darkness covering a disastrous, if not shame- 
ful defeat ; the papers crowded with dreary fune- 
ral notices, showing how, to every great city of 
the North, from hospital and battle-ground, the 
slain are being gathered in, to be buried among 
their own people ; a wail of widows and orphans 
and mothers, from homestead, hamlet, and town, 
overpowering with its simple energy, the bom- 
bastic war-notes and false stage-thunder of the 
press ; rumors of a terrible battle in the far West, 
where, after three days' hard fighting, Rosencrans 
barely holds his own, and yet " there are no newsT^ 

It is an excellent quality in a soldier not to 



16 BORDER AXD BASTILLE. 

know when he is beaten, but whether blind obsti- 
nacy will succeed when it influences the rulers 
and destinies of a great nation, is more than ques- 
tionable. Pondering these things, I remembered 
how, four thousand years ago, a stiff-necked gen- 
eration were brought to their senses and on their 
knees. It was on the morning after the visit of 
the Dark Angel, when Egypt awoke, and found 
not a house in which there was not one dead. If 
such fearful waste of life goes on here, with no 
decisive or final advantage on either side attained, 
that ancient curse may not be long in recurring. 

I rose when the sun ought to liave risen, on 
the following morning, intending to admire the 
famous harbor which Americans love to compare 
with the Neapolitan Bay. But long before we 
reached the Narrows, 

"A blinding mist came up and bid tbe land 
As far as eye could see." 

Very soon we were buried in fog, dense and 
Cimmerian, as ever brooded over our own Thames 
or the Kighi panorama. More and more slowly 
the paddles turned, till they stopped altogether. 
It w^as dangerous to advance, ever so cautiously, 
when the keenest sight could not pierce half a 
ship's length ahead. So there we lay at anchor 
for weary hours, listening to the church-bells 
chiming drowsily through the heavy air, till an 



A FOUL START. 17 

enterprising tug ventured out for the mails, and 
sent another for the relief of the passengers. 

The custom-house officers were not trouble- 
some, and I was soon at the Brevoort House, the 
Parisian Pylades still faithfully following my for- 
tunes. I was far from entreating him to leave 
me ; landing utterly alone in a strange land, one 
does not lightly cast aside companionship. For 
reasons easily understood, I had declined to avail 
myself of many proffered letters of introduction to 
New Yorkers. 

That lonely feeling did not last long : the first 
object which caught my eye on the steps of the 
Brevoort House was an honest English face — a 
face I have known, and liked right well, these 
dozen years and more. There stood " the Colonel" 
(any Ch. Ch. or Rifle Brigade man will recog- 
nize the sobriquet)^ beaming upon the world in 
general with the placid cheerfulness that no 
changes of time or place or fortune seem able to 
alter, looking just as comfortable and thoroughly 
" at home " as he did, steering Horniblow to 
victory at Brixworth. I had heard that my old 
friend was on his way to England to join the 
Staff College, but had never reckoned on such a 
successful '* nick " as this. By my faith, my 
turns of luck beyond the Atlantic were not so 
frequent as to excuse forgetfulness, when they 
did befall. 

So I had aid and abetment in performing the 



18 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

little lionization which is obligatory on a visitor 
to New York ; for the " Colonel's " comrade, my 
fellow-voyager of the Asia, came to the same 
hotel. 

Assisted by the Parisian, we made trial of the 
esculents peculiar to the country — gombo soup, 
sweet potatoes, terrapins, and canvas-backs — with 
much solemnity and satisfaction, agreeing, that 
fame had spoken truth for once, in extolling the 
two last-named delicacies. We went to the 
Opera, and there, in a brilliant salle of white 
and gold, spoilt, however, by the incongruity of 
bonnets mingling everywhere with full evening 
toilettes, assisted at a massacre — unmusical and 
melancholy — of " Lucrezia." We drove out 
through the crude, unfinished Central Park to 
Harlem lane, whither the trotters are wont to 
resort, and saw several teams looking very much 
like work (though no celebrities), almost all of 
the lean, rather ragged form which characterizes, 
more or less, all American-bred " fast horses." 
The ground was too hard frozen to allow of any- 
thing beyond gentle exercise ; but even at quar- 
ter-speed, that wonderful hind-action was very 
remarkable. Watching those clean, sinewy pas- 
terns shoot forward-^well outside of the fore 
hoof-track — straight and swift as Mace's arm in 
an " upper-cut," you marvel no longer at the 
mile-time which hitherto has seemed barely 
credible. 



A FOUL START. 19 

Perhaps this same bitter weather may accomit 
for our disappointment in the brilliancy of Broad- 
way. Several careful reviews of the sunny side 
failed to detect anything dangerously attractive in 
beauty, equipage, or attire. It is probable that 
most of the Uonnes had laid them down in their 
delicate dens, waiting for a more clement season, 
to renew external depredations ; though some- 
times you could just catch a glimpse of bright 
eyes and a little pink nose peering over dark 
fur wrappings, as a brougham or barouche, care- 
fully closed, swept quickly by. We visited Bar- 
num, of course. I think a conversational and 
communicative Albino was the most note-worthy 
curiosity in the Museum, chiefly, from his intense 
appreciation of the imposture of the whole con- 
cern, originated and directed by the King of 
Humbu<2:dom. 

The sanguine popuuir mind was unusually de- 
pressed just then. The President's emancipatory 
proclamation had recently issued, and seemed 
to adapt itself, with wonderful elasticity, to the 
discontents of all parties ; not comprehensive 
enough for the ultra-Abolitionists, it was stig- 
matized by the Democrats as unconstitutional and 
oppressive ; while moderate politicians agreed 
that, be3^ond irritating feelings already bitter 
enough, it would be practically invalid as an 
offensive measure. We shall see, hereafter, how 
these prognostications were justiiied. 



20 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

But the first word in all men's mouths, for a 
day or two at least after my arrival, was — Moni- 
tor. That same gale which had buffeted the 
Asia so rudely on the high seas, had raged yet 
more savagely shorewards : the Merrimac's an- 
tagonist, like a drowning paladin of the mail- 
clad days, had sunk under her mighty armor, 
and now, with half her crew in their iron coffin, 
lay at rest in the crowded burial-ground on 
which Cape Hatteras looks down. Great dis- 
couragement and consternation — greater than has 
often been caused by the loss of any single ves- 
sel — fell upon all the North when the news came 
in. Ever since her famous duel, which the Fed- 
erals never would allow was a drawn battle, 
they had elevated the Monitor into a national 
champion, and prophesied weeping in the South 
if she and their batteries should meet : few then 
dared to insinuate a doubt about Charleston's 
certain fall, when once the leaguer was fairly 
mustered for assault. Grave doubts were now 
expressed as to the seaworthiness of all the new 
iron-clads, though their advocates could point to 
a sister of the unhappy Monitor, which had sur- 
vived a great part of the same storm. That they 
all must be more unsafe in really rough weather 
than the crankiest of our old " coffin brigs," seems 
quite ascertained now : the fact of their being 
unable to make headway through a heavy sea 
unless towed by a consort, speaks for itself. 



A FOUL START. 21 

The immediate cause of the Monitor's founder- 
ing (according to Captain Worden's account, 
which my informant had from his own lips) 
was a leak sprung, where her protruding stern- 
armour, coming down flat on the waves with 
every plunge of the vessel, became loosened from 
the main hull ; but, for some time before this 
was discovered, she seems to have spent more 
minutes under than above the water, and nothing 
alive could have stood unlashed for a second 
on her deck. So great was the public disap- 
pointment, that the tribe of false prophets — 
whose cry of '* Go up to Rantoth Gilead, and 
prosper," deafens us here, not less, usually in 
defeat than in success — did for awhile abate their 
blatancy ; while Ericsson — most confident of pro- 
jectors — spake softly, below his breath, as he 
suggested faint excuse and encouragement. 

The news from the West — hourly improving, 
and more clearly confirmed — were hardly wel- 
comed as they deserved, and scarcely counter- 
balanced the naval disaster. It was not long, 
however, before Rosecrans the Invincible came 
in for his full share of credit — perhaps not more 
than he merited. Few other Federal command- 
ers can claim that epithet ; and, though some 
people persisted in considering Murfreesburg a 
Pyrrhic victory, it is certain that he held his 
ground manfully, and eventually advanced, where 



22 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

defeat, or even a retrograde movement, would 
have been simply ruin. 

On the fifth day our small company were scat- 
tered — each going his own way, east, north, and 
south — while the Parisian abode in New York 
still. 



CONGRESSIA. 23 



CHAPTER II. 

CONGRESSIA. 

Of two lines to Pliiladelphia I selected the 
longest, wishing to see the harbor, down which 
a steamer takes passengers as far as Amboy ; 
but the Powers of the Air were unpropitious 
again : it never ceased blowing, from the moment 
we went on board a very unpleasant substitute 
for the regular passage-boat, till we landed on 
the raihvay pier. My first experience of Ameri- 
can travel was not attractive. The crazy old craft 
puffed and snorted furiously, but fiiiled to per- 
suade any one that she was doing eight miles 
an hour ; the grime of many years lay thick on 
her dusky timbers — dust under cover, and mud 
where the wet swept in, and her close, dark 
cabins were stifling enough to make you, after 
five minutes of vapor-bathing, plunge eagerly into 
the bitter weather outside. Indeed, there was 
not much to see, for the track lies on the inner 
and uglier side of Staten Island. The last 
few miles lead through marshes, with nothing 
taller growing than reeds and osiers. 

For an hour or so after leaving Amboy, you 
look out on a country thickly populated, v^^ell 



24 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

cultivated, and trimly fenced, bearing a strong 
resemblance to parts of oar own eastern coun- 
ties. We passed through one wood, in height 
of trees, sweep of ground, color of soil, and 
build of boundary-fence, so exactly like a cer- 
tain cover in Norfolk similarly bisected by the 
rail, that I could have picked out the precise 
spot where, many a time and oft, I have waited 
for the " rocketers." But the character of the 
landscape soon changed; loose, sprawling "zig- 
zags" usurped the place of neat squared posts 
and rails ; the stunted woodland stretched farther 
afield, with rarer breaks of clearing ; and the low 
hill-ranges, behind which the watery sun soon 
absconded, looked drearily bare in the distance. 

It was pleasant, from the ferry boat, which was 
our last change, to meet the lights of Philadelphia, 
gleaming out on the broad dark Susquehftfitta^, 

I can say little of that staid, 0]3ulent, intensely 
respectable city — not even if the imputation of 
dullness, cast upon her by the more mercurial 
South, be a slander ; for the few hours of my stay 
there were spent almost entirely with my Asiatic 
friend, whose invitations and inducements to a 
longer sojourn were very hard to resist. But I 
was impatient to get on (as men will be who can- 
not see their arm's-length into the future), and 
at midnight I started again for Washington. 

My recollections of that journey are the reverse 
of roseate. The atmosphere of the cars — windows 



CONGRESSIA. 25 

hermetic, and stoves red-hot — made one look back 
regretfully on the milder inferno of the passage- 
boat ; the acrid apple-odor was more pungently 
nauseating ; and the abomination of expectoration 
less carefully dissembled. Besides this, I was 
afflicted by another nuisance, purely private and 
personal. 

Whether there be any such thing as love at 
first sight or no, is a question — grave or gay, as 
you choose to discuss it — but, that instinctive 
antipathies exist, is most certain. I was the 
victim of one of such that night. Waiting for 
change in the ticket-office, my eye lighted on a 
dark man, of African appearance, standing un- 
pleasantly near, and for a second or two I could 
not get rid of a horrible fascination, compelling 
me to stare. I say " dark man" advisedlv, for it 
would have been hard to guess at his original 
color, unless his cast of feature had not given a line. 
Now, I have seen Irish squatters in their cabins, 
London outcasts in their penny lodgings, and beg- 
gars of Southern Europe in their nameless dens ; 
but the conviction flashed upon me (and it has 
never since passed away), that I was then gazing 
on a dirtier specimen of healthy humanity than 
I had ever yet foregathered with. I believe 
that all the rains of heaven beating on his brow 
would not have altered its dinginess by a shade, nor 
penetrated one of the earthy layers that had thick- 
ened there ; a thunder-shower must have glanced 



26 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

oif, as water will do from tough, hardened clay. 
Rough patches of hair, scanty and straggling, like 
the vegetation of waste, barren lands, grew all 
over his cheeks and chin (a negro with an ample, 
honest beard is an anomaly), and a huge bush of 
wool — unkempt, I dare swear, from earliest 
infancy — seemed to repel the ruins of a non- 
descript hat. Whether he was really uglier than 
his fellows I cannot remember — I was so absorbed 
in contemplating and realizing his surpassing 
squalor — but the expression of the uncouth face 
(if it had any whatsoever) was, I think, neither 
ferocious nor sullen. There is generally a *' color- 
ed car" attached to every train; for you will 
find the tender-hearted Abolitionist, in despite of 
his African sympathies, when it is a question of 
personal contact or association, quite as earnest 
in keeping those " innocent blacknesses " aloof, 
as the haughtiest KSoutherner. On the present 
occasion there was no such distinction of races. 
I do not think the contraband was conscious of 
the effect produced by his lordly presence ; it was 
probably simple accident which brought him so 
often in my neighborhood; but, wherever I 
moved through the crowded cars, seeking for a 
seat, the loose shambling limbs and dull vacant 
eyes seemed impelled to follow. At last I lost 
my hete noire, and found a place close to the door 
with nothing but a low pile of logs in my front. 
I was tired, and soon began to doze ; but I woke 



CONGEESSIA.. 27 

ii]3 with a start and a shudder, as a haunted man 
might do, becoming aware, in sleep, of the ap- 
proach of some horrible thing. There he sat, 
on the logs close to my feet, in a heavy ster- 
torous slumber, his huge head rocking to and 
fro, and his features hideously contorted, as he 
growled and gibbered to himself in an unknown 
tongue, like some dreaming Caliban. I arose and 
fled away swiftly from the face of my ''brother," 
and, finding no other available resting-place, did 
battle on the outside platform with the keen 
night wind. 

I am indebted, however, to that honest con- 
traband for a curious sight, which I should have 
otherwise missed — the crossing of the Gunpowder 
River. There, the train rushes, on a single 
track, over three - quarters of a mile of trem- 
ulous trestle-work, without an apology for a side- 
rail, so that you look straight down into the dark 
water, over which you seem wafted with no visible 
support beneath. The effect is sufficiently start- 
ling, especially seen as I saw it, under a bright, 
capricious moon. From Baltimore, the cars were 
less crowded, and I encountered my dusky tor- 
mentor no more. 

If there is much in first impressions, I was 
not likely to be enchanted with Washington. 

The snow, just then beginning to melt, lay 
inches deep on the half-frozen soil ; everything 
looked unnaturally and unutterably dreary in 



28 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

the bleak leaden dawn-light ; and, as I drove down 
Pennsylvania avenue (after rejection at the lodg- 
ings to which I had been recommended), the first 
object that caught my eye was a huge placard : 

EMBALMING OF THE DEAD. 

These ghastly advertisements are not unfrequent 
in that part of the city, and I was informed that 
the advertisers occasionally do a very brisk busi- 
ness. 

After waiting for two hours in the hall of the 
Metropolitan, like a client in some patrician ante- 
chamber, they did accord me a tolerable room on 
the sublimest story. 

I called that same afternoon on Lord Lyons, 
to whom I brought an introductory letter. I 
have to thank the British Legation for much 
courteous kindness, and for two very pleasant 
evenings, on the first of which I was the guest of 
the chief, on the second, of his secretaries. Here 
will (if I ever leave it behind me) begin and end 
my agreeable reminiscences of Washington. I 
disliked it cordially at first sight ; I was thorough- 
ly bored before I had got through my stay of 
seventy hours ; I utterly abominate and execrate 
the city 

From turret to foundation-stone, 

at this moment, as I catch a narrow glimpse of 
its outskirts through the rusty window-bars of 



CONGRESSIA. 29 

the Old Capitol. Should the Southern Mazeppas, 
whose banners have already floated in sight of 
Arlington Heights, ever work their will here, I 
could name one Briton whose composure will not 
be ruffled by compassion at hearing the news. If 
there is anything in presentiments, surely one of 
these whispered warnings thus early in my pil- 
grimage, though I was deafer than the adder just 
then. 

There was in Washington, of course, the usual 
crowd — official, political, and mercantile — with a 
vast supplement of hangers-on and aspirants, that 
always follows the meeting of Congress ; and, 
besides, the influx never ceased of all officers 
who could get leave — of many who could not — 
from the Army of the Potomac. Speaking impar- 
tially — for I scarcely interchanged four words 
with an American during my stay — I thought the 
military element the most repulsive. 

It would be unfair to cavil at the absence of a 
martial bearing in men, who, having followed 
other professions all their lives, so lately and sud- 
denly took up that of arms. In this singular war, 
whole regiments have been sent into action (as at 
Antietam) without even an hour's practice in file- 
firing, and have stood their ground, too, manfully, 
though helplessly, the merest food for cannon. 
So it is not strange if the lawyers, merchants, 
clerks, stock-brokers, bar-keepers, and newspaper 
editors, wdio officer the volunteer corps, should 



30 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

laugh at " setting-up " preliminaries to scorn, and 
considar a few days of rough battalion-drill a sat- 
isfactory qualification for efficient service in the 
field. 

In spite of these disadvantages, it is indisputable 
that the Yankee will fight right stubbornly, after 
his own fashion, though rarely with the dash and 
fire of the Southerner. Consider in g^ the raw and 
heterogeneous materials out of which the huge 
armies of the North have been formed, the indi- 
vidual instances of personal cowardice are credit- 
ably rare. Even in the cases of disorderly retreats, 
I believe discipline rather than pluck to have been 
wanting. Martinets and formalists would cer- 
tainly be out of place here, and some of the tech- 
nicalities of the art of war may well be dispensed 
with ; nevertheless, all these palliations do not 
alter my unfavorable impression of the Federal 
officer on furlough. 

Once out of the cam23, and among familiar 
scenes again, the recent centurion falls back, swiftly 
and easily, into the slovenly habits and careless 
demeanor that were natural to him before he was 
called to command; his uniform begins to look 
like a masquerade dress hired for the occasion ; of 
the hard and, perhaps, gallant service of months 
past, there is soou no other evidence, than an 
unnecessary loudness of speech, and a readiness to 
seize on any occasion to bluster or blaspheme. A 
friend of mine once remarked (by way of excuse 



CONGRESSIA. 31 

for being detected in the most eccentric deshabille) 
that " the British dragoon, under any circumstan- 
ces, was a respectable and elevating sight." I do 
not think the most amiable stranger would be 
inclined to concede as much to an officer of Fed- 
eral volunteers, encountering that warrior in his 
native bar or oyster saloon. On the whole, I prefer 
the real Zouave en taimgeur, to his Transatlantic 
imitator : the former at least swaggers 'professionally 

It would hardly be honest to take the *' loafers '' 
of Washington as fair representatives of I heir order : 
there are, no doubt, better — if not braver — soldiers 
in the front ; and perhaps even the queer speci- 
mens then before me might look decent, if not 
dignified, under the earnest light of battle. 

But wherever I was brought in contact with 
portions of the Federal army (I never saw a whole 
regiment in review order), I was forcibly struck 
with the entire absence of the " smartness " which 
distinguishes our own and much of the Continental 
soldiery. While I was at Washington, there were 
three squadrons of regular cavalry encamped in 
the centre of the city. These troops were espe- 
cially on home-service — guard-mounting, orderly 
duty, &c. — with no field or picket work whatever. 
There was no more excuse for slovenliness than 
might have been allowed to a regiment in huts at 
Aldershott or Shornclifie. I wish that the critical 
eye of the present Cavalry Inspector-General could 
inspect that encampment ; if he preserved his 



32 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

wonted courteous calmness, ifc would be a very 
Victory of Suffering : the effect upcn his predecessor 
would be instantly fatal. 

The arms looked tolerably clean and service- 
able ; but bridle-bits, bosses, spurs, and accou- 
trements were crusted with rust and grime ; boots, 
buttons, and clothing were innocent of the brush 
as the horses' coats of the curry-comb. The most 
careful grooming could not have made the gen- 
erality of these animals look anything but rag- 
ged and weedy — rather dear at the Government 
price of 115 — 120 dollars, — and their housings 
were not calculated to set them off to advantage. 
The saddle — :i modification of the Mexican princi- 
ple of raw-hide stretched over a wooden frame — 
carries little metal- work ; it is lighter, I think, 
than ours, and more abruptly peaked, but not un- 
comfortable ; being thrown well off the spine and 
withers, there is little danger of sore backs with 
ordinary care in settling the cloth or blanket. 
The heavy clog of wood and leather, closed in 
front, and only admitting the fore-part of the 
foot, which serves as a stirrup, is unsightly in 
the extreme ; its advantages are said to be, pro- 
tection from the weather, and the impossibility 
of the rider's entanglement : but the sole has no 
grip whatever, and rising to give full effect to a 
sabre-cut would be out of the question. Besides 
a halter, a single rein, attached to rather a clum- 
sy bit, is the usual trooper's equipment ; to this 



CONGRESSIA. 33 

is attached the inevitable ring-martingale, with- 
out which few Federal cavaliers, civil or milita- 
ry, would consider themselves safe. 

I cannot conceive such an anomaly as a tho- 
rough Yankee horseman. Given — one, or a span 
of trotters, to be yoked after the neatest fashion, 
and to be driven gradually and scientifically up 
to top-speed— the Northerner is quite at home, 
and can give you a wrinkle or two worth keep- 
ing. But this habit of hauling at horses, who 
often go as much on the bit as on the traces, 
is destructive to "• hands." If the late lamented 
Assheton Smith were compelled to witness the 
equitation here, he would suffer almost as much 
as Macaulay in the purgatory which Canon Sid- 
ney imagined for the historian. I have discussed 
that Martingale-question with several good judges 
and breeders of American blood-stock, but I never 
could get them quite to agree in the absurdity of 
tying down a colt's head for the rest of his natu- 
ral life, without regard to his peculiar propensi- 
ties — star-gazing, boring, or neutral. The cus- 
tom, of course, never could prevail where men 
were in the habit of crossing a country ; but an 
American horse is scarcely ever put at anything 
beyond the ruins of a rail fence, and there are few, 
north of the Potomac, that I should like to ride at 
four feet of stiff timber. It is very different in 
the South, where many men from infancy pass 

their out-door life in the saddle: from what I 
2* 



34 BORDEU AND BASTILLE. 

have heard, Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia — to 
say nothing of the wild Texan rangers — could 
show riders w^ho, when the first strangeness had 
worn off, would hold their own tolerable in Eng- 
land, over a fdir hunting country, in any ordinary 
run. 

On the outbreak of the war, volunteers enlisted 
in the Federal cavalry, who — ^far from being able 
to manage a horse — could not bridle one without 
assistance ; and a conscript, who could keep his 
saddle through an entire day, without *' taking a 
voluntary," was considered by his fellows as a credit 
to the regiment, and almost an accomplished 
dragoon. Such a thing as a military riding- 
school has, I believe, never been thought of, 
away from West Point; the drill is simply that of 
mounted infantry. Things are better now than 
they were; a Federal cavalryman can at least sit 
saddle-fast, to receive and return a sabre-cut; there 
have been some sharp skirmishes of late, and, 
allowing for exaggeration, Averill's encounter 
with Fitzhugh Lee brought out real work on 
both sides. 

Looking at that squalid encampment, it was 
easy to realize all one had heard of the mor- 
tality among the horses in the Army of the 
Potomac, where no natural causes could justify 
it. Unless some sympathy exists between the 
two — unless the trooper takes some pride or 
interest in the animal he rides beyond that of 



CONGRESSIA. 35 

being conveyed safely from point to point — it is 
vain to expect that the comforts of the latter 
will be greatly cared for. General orders are 
powerless here, ^^nd the personal supervision of 
the officers — oven if ^' stables " were as carefully 
attended as in our own service — would only touch 
the surface of the evil. That utter absence of 
esprit (hi corps and soldierly self-respect, has cost 
the Federal treasury many millions ; nor will the 
drain ever cease till '' re-mounts " shall be no 
more needed. 

The foregoing remarks apply exclusively to 
the tenue of the privates and non-commissioned 
officers ; those of superior rank that I met were 
tolerably correct, both in dress and equipment ; 
several, indeed, were mounted on really powerful 
chargers, and rode them not amiss, though with 
a seat as unprofessional as can be conceived. 

The military loungers certainly monopolize all 
the leisure of Washington — =by day at least; 
for, if all tales are true, the legislators, in the 
evening and small hours, are wont to unbend 
somewhat freely from their labors ; and the Senate 
acts wisely, in not risking through a night ses- 
sion the little dignity it has left to lose. But, 
with few exceptions, every civic face meets you 
with the same anxious, worried look, of unsatisfied 
craving ; there is hunger in all the restless, eager 
eyes, and the thin, impatient lips work nervously, 
as if scarcely able to repress the cry which the 



36 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

children of the horse-leech have uttered since the 
beginning of time. It is easy to understand this, 
when you remember that, at such a season, there 
gathers here, besides the legion of politicians and 
partisans, and the mighty army of contractors, a 
vaster host of persons interested in the private bills 
submitted to Congress, and of candidates for the 
numerous places of preferment which are being 
vacated and created daily. Before the smallest of 
these has lain open for an hour, there will be scores 
of shrill claimants wrangling over it, summoned 
from the four winds of heaven by the unerring in- 
stinct of the Rapacidae. 

Every one of any official or political standing 
can either influence or dispose of a certain 
amount of patronage ; to such, life must some- 
times be made a heavy burden. Human nature 
shrinks from the contemplation of what each suc- 
cessive President must be doomed to undergo. 
His nerves ought to be of iron, and his conscience 
of brass, or a Gold Coast Governorship might 
prove a less dangerous dignity. The character 
best fitted for the post would be such an one as 
Gallio, the tranquil cynic of Antioch. 

Marking, and hearing these things, I thoroughly 
appreciated an anecdote told me on board the 
Asia. At Mobile, in 1849, the Philadelphian met 
President Polk, then on his way home from 
Washington, his term having just expired. He 
took up office — a cheery, sanguine man, quite 



COKGRESSIA. 87 

as healthy as the generality of his compatriots at 
forty-five ; he laid it down — a helpless invalid, 
shattered in body and mind, past hope of revival. 
My informant, who knew him well, was much 
shocked at the change, biit tried to console the 
ex-President, by speaking of the important 
measures that made his administration one of 
the most eventful since that of Washington ; 
hinting that such grave responsibility and con- 
tinual excitement might well accomit for exhaus- 
tion and reaction. The sick man shook his 
head drearily, and put the implied compliment 
aside : he was past such vanities then. 

" You 're wrong," he said. " It isn't Oregon, 
or Mexico, or Texas, but the office-hunters that 
have brought me — where I am." 

In that answer there was the simple solemnity, 
that attaches to the lightest words of the dying. 
Sixty days later the speaker was " sleeping down 
in Tennessee," never more to be vexed by the 
clamor of the cormorants, or waked by the clients 
keeping watch at his door. Nor was he a soli- 
tary victim. General Taylor did not live to see 
half his duty done, and ths atmosphere of the 
White House, in one month, proved fatal to 
Harrison. 

To a disinterested spectator — especially if he 
chance to be of indolent temperament — there is 
something very irritating in the ceaseless crowd, 
and hurry, and din. From early morning till long 



38 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

past midnight, you might search in vain, througli 
any one of the principal hotels, for a quiet nook 
to write or read in, unless it were found in your 
own chamber, where tlie appliances of comfort 
are more than limited. All private sitting-rooms 
are instantly engaged at fabulous prices, and, in 
the public parlors the feminine element reigns with 
no divided sway. It is difficult to appreciate even 
newspaper *' leader," with a prattle and titter 
around, wherein mingle tones, not quite so low and 
sweet as the voice of Cordelia. Those energetic 
civilians never seem at rest or at ease ; they snatch 
their frequent drinks, upstanding and covered, as 
if they were just a minute behindlmnd for some 
appointment, and bolt their food, as if dinner were 
a necessary medicinal evil. 

Soothe to say, the edibles do not deserve 
much better treatment : the whole commissariat 
arrangements in the hotels is supremely uncom- 
fortable. The guests feed separately, but no 
dinner can be served in the public rooms after 
five, p. M. You can choose to any extent, from 
a sufficiently ample, though very simple, carte; 
but your repast arrives en masse, no matter into 
how many courses it ought naturally to be 
divided, and is set down before you in un- 
covered dishes. Of course, when you arrive at 
the last, it retains scarcely a memory of the fire. 
I saw some of the indigenes obviate the incon- 
venience, by taking fish, flesh, and fowl on their 



CONGRESSIA. 39 

plate at one and the same time, consuming the 
impromptu "oUa" with a rapid impartial voracity ; 
but so bold an innovation on old-world customs 
would hardly suit a stranger. All liquors are 
rather high in price and lower in quality than 
one would expect, considering the place and 
season ; but the sum charged for unstinted board 
and a tolerable bed (from two to two and a 
half dollars per diem), is reasonable enough, es- 
pecially during the present depreciation of the 
currency. 

Out-door scenes were not much more attrac- 
tive. The three-months' reign of Jupiter Pluvius, 
which has made this spring evilly notorious, had 
just begun in earnest. In the main avenues, on 
either side of the rail-track of the cars, the mud 
was a trifle deeper than that of a cross-lane, in 
winter, in the Warwickshire clays. To traverse 
the by-streets comfortably, you require rather a 
clever animal over a country, and especially 
good in " dirt ;" they are intersected by frequent 
brooks, much wider and deeper than that cele- 
brated one which tested the prowess of " Ze hon- 
homme BriggsJ' There are rough stepping-stones 
at some ol the crossings, and the passage of these, 
[ifter nightfall, resembles greatly that of a '^ shak- 
ing " bog, where the traveler has to leap from 
tussock to moss-hag with agile audacity ; the con- 
sequences of a false step being, in both cases, 
about the same. I began to think regretfully of 



40 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

certain rugged continental paves ^ execrated in days 
gone by ; they, at least, had a firm bottom, more 
or less remote. 

The public buildings of Washington do not 
attempt architectural display : with scarcely an 
exception, they are severely simple and square. 
But there is a certain grandeur in the masses of 
white marble, which is everywhere lavishly em- 
ployed, and the Capitol stands right well — alone, 
on the crest of a low. abrupt slope, with nothing 
to intercept the view from its terraces, seaward, 
and up the valley of the Potomac. The effect 
will probably be better when wind and weather 
shall have slightly toned down the sheen of the 
fresh-hewn stones, so dazzling now as almost to 
tire the eye. 

I lingered some time in the stranger galleries 
of Congress, but — " a plague on both their 
Houses" — there was no question of stirring 
interest before either. _ I had hoped to see at 
least one Eepresentative committed to the cus- 
tody of the Sergeant-at-Arms ; but, on that day, 
the hardly-worked official had rest from his 
labors. Only a few hours later, an irascible Sena- 
tor (from Delaware, I think) created a temporary 
excitement by defying first his political oppo- 
nent, and then generally all powers that be, 
eventually displaying the revolver, which is the 
ratio ultima of so many Transatlantic debates. I 
heard some '* tall talking," enforced by much 



CONGRESSIA. , 41 

energy of gesture and resonance of tone ; but 
not a period verging on eloquence. The speakers 
generally seemed to have studied in the simple 
school of the " stump " or the tavern, and, when 
at a loss for an argument, would introduce a 
diatribe against the South, or a declaration of 
fidelity to the Union, very much as they might 
have proposed a toast or sentiment, supremely 
disregardful of such trifles as relevancy or con- 
nection. The retort — more or less courteous — 
seemed much favored by these honest rhetori- 
cians, and appreciated by the galleries, who at such 
times applauded sympathetically, in despite of 
menace or intercession of Vice-President or 
Speaker. Nobody, indeed, took much notice of 
either of these two dignitaries ; and they appeared 
perfectly reconciled to their position. You would 
not often find orators and audience understand 
one another more thoroughly ; the easy freedom 
of the whole concern was quite festive in its 
informality. 

Having secured a portion of my English letters 
(one or more were retained for the recreation, 
and, I hope, improvement of the post-official 
mind), nothing detained me in Washington be- 
yond the fourth morning. I turned northwards 
tlie more cheerfully, because it involved escape 
from a certain chamber-maiden to whose authority 
I was subjected at the Metropolitan — the most 
austere tyrant that ever oppressed a traveler. 



42 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

That grim White Woman might have paired with 
the Ancient Mariner — she was so deep-voiced, 
and gaunt, and wan. On the few occasions when 
I ventured to summon her, she would '* hold me 
with her glittering eye" till I quailed visibly 
beneath it, utterly scorning and rejecting some 
mild attempts at conciliation. I am certain she 
suspected me of meditating some black private 
or public treachery ; and I know there was joy in 
that granite heart when circumstances brought 
me, at last, in my innocence, before the bar of 
her offended country. On that fourth morning, 
however, the mood of Sycorax seemed to change ; 
there was a ghastly gayety in her manner, and on 
her rigid lips an Homeric smile, more terrible 
than a frown. Then I pondered within myself — 
" If her hate be heavy to bear, what — what — 
would her love be ?" The unutterable horror 
of the idea gave me courage that I might other- 
wise have lacked, to confess my intentions of 
absconding. But I avow that the liberality of the 
parting largesse is to be attributed to the mean- 
est motives — of personal fear. 

On the railway platform, shaking the mud of 
Washington from my drenched boots, I purposed 
never to return thither. But I reckoned with- 
out my future hosts, MM. Seward and Stanton, 
who, though I have trespassed on their hospi- 
tality, now for some weeks, seem still loth to lot 
me go. 



I 



CAPUA. 43 



CHAPTER III. 



CAPUA. 



The southward approach to Baltimore is very 
well managed. The railroad makes an abrupt 
curve, as it sweeps round the marshy woodlands 
through which the Patapsco opens into the bay ; so 
that you have a fair view of the entire city, swell- 
ing always upwards from the water's edge, on a 
cluster of low, irregular hills, to the summit of 
Mount Vernon. From that highest point soars 
skyward a white, glistening pillar crowned by 
Washington's statue. I have seldom seen a monu- 
ment better placed, and it is worthy of its advan- 
tages. The figure retains mucli of the strength 
and grace for which in life it was renowned, 
and, if ever features were created, worfchy of 
the deftest sculptor and the purest marble, such, 
surely, was the birthrigM of that noble, serene 
face. 

No one, that has sojourned in Vfashington, can 
be ten minutes in Baltimore without being aware 
of a great and refreshing change. You leave the 
hurry and bustle of traffic behind at the railway 
station, and are never subjected to such nuisances 
till you return thither. Even in the exclusively 
commercial squares of the city there reigns com- 



44 BORDER AInD BASTILLE. 

parative leisure, for, except in the establishments of 
government contractors, or others directly connect- 
ed with the supply of the army, business is by no 
means brisk just now. You may pass through 
Baltimore street, the main artery bisecting the 
town from east to west, at any hour, without en- 
countering a denser or busier throng than you 
would meet in Regent street, any afternoon out of 
the season, and, about the usual promenade time, 
the proportion of fair fldneuscs^ to the meaner mas- 
culine herd, would be nearly the same. 

I betook myself to Guy's hotel, which had been 
recommended to me as quiet and comfortable : for 
many people it would have been too quiet. The 
black waiters carried the science of " taking things 
easy" to a rare perfection ; they were thoroughly 
polite, and even kindly in manner, and never dream- 
ed of objecting to any practicable order, but — 
as for carrying it out within any specified time — 
altra cow.. After a few vain attempts and futile 
remonstrances, the prudent and philosophical guest 
would recognize resignedly the absolute impossi- 
bility of obtaining breakAst, however simple, under 
forty-five minutes from the moment of command- 
ing the same ; indeed that was very good time, and 
I positively aver that I have waited longer for 
eggs, tea, and toast. I never tried abuse or re- 
proach, for I chanced, early in my stay, to be 
present when an impatient traveler voided the 
vials of his wrath on the head of the chief attend- 



CAPUA. 45 

ant: insisting, with many strange oaths, on his 
right to obtain cooked food, of some sort, within 
the half-hour. 

Years ago, I was amused, at the Ga'ietcs, by a 
common-place scene enough of stage-temptation. 
Madelon, driven into her last intrenchments by the 
sophistries of the wily aristocrat, objected timidly, 
*' Mais, Monseigsieur, j ^aime mon mari. " For a mo- 
ment the Marquis was surprised, and seemed to 
reflect. Then he said, " Tiens — tu aimes ton mari ? 
Ccst bizarre: mais — apres tout — ce n^cst ]jas defcn- 
duy As he spoke, he smiled upon his simple vas- 
sal — evidently wavering between amusement and 
compassion. 

With just such a smile — allowing for the exag- 
geration of the African physiognomy — Jid *' Leono- 
ro " contemplate his victim, and me, the bystander, 
and then sauntered slowly from the room, without 
uttering one word. It was a great moral lesson, 
and I profited by it. But, in truth, there was lit- 
tle to complain of ; the quarters were clean and 
comfortable, and one got, in time, as much as any 
reasonable man could desire. The arrangements 
are on the European system, L c, there are no fix- 
ed hours for meals, wliich are ordered from the 
carte, and no fixed charge for board. I should 
have remained there permanently, had it not been 
for one objection, which eventually overcame my 
aversion to change. The basement story of the 
house w^as occupied by a bar and oyster saloon ; 



46 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

the pungent testaceous odors, mounting from those 
lower regions, gave the offended nostrils no respite 
or rest ; in a few minutes, a robust appetite, albeit 
watered by cunning bitters, would wither, like a 
flower in the fume of sulphur. Half-a-dozen be- 
fore dinner, have always satiated my own desire 
for these mollusks ; before many days were over, 
I utterly abominated the name of the species ; fa- 
miliarity only made the nuisance more intolerable, 
and I fled at last, fairly ostracised. How the hahi- 
iucs stood it was a mystery, till I recognized the 
fact, that there is no accident of pleasure or pain 
to which humanity is liable, no antecedent of rest 
or exertion, no untimeliness of hour or incongruity 
of place, which will render an apple or an oyster 
inopportune to an American bourgeois. 

My first visit in Baltimore was to the British 
Consul, to whom I brought credentials from a 
member of the Washington Legation. I shall 
not easily forget the many courtesies, for which 
I have never ^adequately thanked Mr. Bernal : 
few English travelers leave Baltimore, without 
carrying away grateful recollections of his plea- 
sant house in Franklin street, and without having 
received some kindness, social or substantial, from 
the fair hands which dispense its hospitalities so 
gently and gracefully. 

On that same evening my name was entered 
as an honorary member of the Maryland Club. It 
would be absurd to compare this institution with 



CAPUA. ■ 47 

the palaces of our own metropolis ; but, in all 
respects, it may fairly rank with the best class of 
yacht clubs. You find there, besides the ordinary 
writing and reading accommodation, a pleasant 
lounge from early afternoon to early morning; 
a fair French cook, pitilessly monotonous in his 
carte; a good steady rubber at limited points; 
and a perfect billiard-room. In this last apart- 
ment it is well worth while to linger, sometimes, 
for half an hour, to watch the play, if the " Chief" 
chances to be there. I have never seen an ama- 
teur to compare with this great artist, for cer- 
tainty and power of cue. A short time before my 
arrival, at the carom game, on a table without 
pockets, he scored 1,015 on one break. I heard this 
from a dozen eye-witnesses. 

I went through many introductions that even- 
ing ; and, in the next fortnight, received ample 
and daily proofs of the proverbial hospitality of 
Baltimore. There are residents — praisers of the 
time gone by, who cease not to lament the con- 
vivial decadence of the city; but such deficiency 
is by no means apparent to a stranger. 

If s^ourmandize be the favorite failinof in these 
parts, there is surely some excuse for the sinners. 
Probably no one tract on earth, of the same 
extent, can boast of so many delicacies peculiar to 
itself, as the shores of the Chesapeake. Of these, 
the most remarkable is the *' terrapin :" it is about 
the size of a common land tortoise, and haunts the 



4S BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

shallow waters of the bay and the salt marshes 
around. They say " he was a bold man who first 
ate an oyster ; a much more undaunted experi- 
mentalist was the first taster of the terrapin. I 
strongly advise no one to look at the live animal, 
till he has thoroughly learnt to like the savory 
meat ; then he will be enabled to laugh all qualms 
and scruples to scorn. Comparisons have been 
drawn between the terrapin and the turtle — 
very absurdly ; for, beyond the fact of both being 
testudines, there is not a point of resemblance. 
Individually, I prefer the tiny *' diamond-back " 
to his gigantic congener, as more delicate and less 
cloying to the palate. Then there is the superb 
*' canvas-back," — peerless among water-fowl — 
never eaten in perfection out of sight of the sand- 
banks where he plucks the wild sea-celery ; and, 
in their due season, *'soft crabs," and " bay mack- 
erel." Last of all, there are oysters (well worth 
the name !) of every shape* color, and size. They 
assert that the " cherrystones " are superior to 
our own Colchester natives in flavor : for reasons 
before stated, I cared not to contest the point. 

A dinner based upon these materials, with a 
saddle of five-year-old mutton from the Eastern 
Shore, as the main yiece de resistance, might have 
satisfied the defunct Earl Dudley, of fastidious 
•memory. The wines deserve a separate para- 
graph. 

For generations past, there has prevailed a great 



CAPUA. 49 

rivalry and emulation amongst the Amphitryons 
of Baltimore. They seem to have taken as much 
pride in their cellars, as a Briton might do in his 
racing or hunting stables — bestowing the same 
elaborate care on their construction and manage- 
ment. The prices given for rare brands appear 
fabulous, even to those who have heard at home, 
three or four *' commissioners " at an auction, with 
plenipotentiary powers, disputing the favorite bin 
of some deceased Dean or Don. But when you 
consider, what the lost interest on capital lying 
dormant for seventy years will amount to, the ap- 
parent extravagance of cost is easily accounted for. 

That is no uncommon asre for Madeira. No 
European palate can form an idea of this wonder- 
ful wine ; for, when in mature perfection, it is ut- 
terly ruined by transport beyond the seas. The 
vintages of Portugal and Hungary are thin and* 
tame beside the puissant liquor that, after half a 
century's subjection to southern suns, enters 
slowly on its prime, with abated fire, but undimin- 
ished strength. Drink it then, and you will own, 
that from the juice of no other grape can be drawn 
such subtlety of flavor, such delicacy of fra- 
grance, passing the perfume of flowers. Climate 
of course is the first consideration. I believe Bal- 
timore and Savannah limit, northward and south- 
ward, the region wherein the maturing process can 
be thoroughly perfected. 

Those pleasant banquets began early, about 
3 



50 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

5, P. M., and were indefinitely prolonged ; for 
cigars are not supposed to interfere with the 
proper appreciation of Madeira, and the revelers 
here cherish the honest old English custom of 
chanting over their liquor. Closing my eyes 
now, so as to shut out the dingy drab walls of 
this my prison-chamber, I can call up one of 
those cheery scenes quite distinctly : I can hear 
the " Chief's " voice close at my ear, trolling 
forth the traditional West Point ditty of " Benny 
Havens," or the rude sea-ballad, full of quaint 
pathos : — 

'Twas a Friday morning when we set sail ; 

then — deeper and fuller tones, rolling out Barry 
Cornwall's sonorous verses of " King Death." It 
is good to look back on hours like these, though I 
doubt if the ill-cooked meats, whereof I hope soon 
to partake — not unthankfully — will be improred 
by the memory. 

In spite of this large hospitality, instances even 
of individual excess are comparatively rare. I 
have seen more aberration of intellect and con- 
vivial eccentricity after a Greenwich dinner, or a 
heavy " guest-night," than was displayed at any 
one of these Baltimore entertainments : a strancfer 
endowed with a fair constitution, abstaining from 
morning drinks, and paying attention to the Irish- 
man's paternal advice — " Keep your back from the 



CAPUA. 51 

fire, and don't mix your liquors " — may take his 
place, with comfort and confidence. 

But my social recollections of Baltimore are by 
no means exclusively bacchanalian. British stock, 
lamentably at a discount in other parts of the 
Union, is, perhaps, a trifle above par here. The 
popularity of our representatives — masculine and 
feminine — may have something to do with this ; 
at any rate, the avenues of the best and pleasantest 
circles are easily opened to any Englishman of 
warranted position and name. 

If a traveler were to enter a drawing-room here, 
expecting to be surprised at every turn by some 
incongruity of speech or demeanor, such as book- 
makers have attributed to our American cousins, 
he would not fill a page of his mental note-book. 
I had no such prejudices to be disappointed. After 
experience of society in many lands, I begin to 
think that well-bred and educated people speak 
and behave after much the same fashion all the 
world over. Few Baltimorean voices are free from 
a perceptible accent ; it is more marked in the 
gentler sex, but rarely so strong as to be disagree- 
able. The ear is never oiFended by the New 
England twang, or Connecticut drawl, and some 
tones rang true as silver. 

You hear, of course, occasional peculiarities of 
expression, and words somewhat distorted from our 
Anglican meaning, but these are not much 
more frequent or strange than provincial idioms 



52 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

at home. I was only once fairly puzzled in this 



wise. 



It w^as at a public "assembly." I had just 
been presented to the 

Queen rose of a rosebud garden of girls, 

a very gazelle, too, for litheness and grace ; the 
music of the Sire^ie had begun, and my arm had 
encircled my partner's willowy waist ; when I felt 
her hang back, and saw on her fair face a dis- 
tressed look of penitence and perplexity : " I'm 
so sorry," she murmured, " but I can't dance 
loose,^^ Perfectly vague as to her meaning, I 
assured her that she should be guided after as 
serree a fashion as she chose ; but this evidently 
did not touch the difficulty. By the merest 
chance, I observed that all the cavaliers put them- 
selves, as it were, in position, their left hand 
locked in the right of their valseuse, before making 
a start, omitting the preliminary paces that get 
you well into the swing. It was all plain sailing 
then, and swift sailing, too ; the rest of the per- 
formance was completed with perfect unanimity, 
much to my own satisfaction, and, I trust, not to 
the discontent of my fairy-footed charge. 

The freedom and independent self-reliance of 
the Baltimorean demoiselles is very remarkable. At 
home they receive and entertain their own friends, 
of either sex, quite naturally, and — taking their 
walks abroad, or returning from an evening 



CAPUA. 53 

party — trust themselves unhesitatiDgly to the escort 
of a single cavalier. Yet, you v^ould scarcely find a 
solitary imitation of the " fast girls " who have been 
giving our own ethical writers so much uneasiness 
of late. It speaks well for the tone of society, 
where such a state of things can prevail without 
fear and without reproach. Though Baltimore 
breeds gossips, numerous and garrulous as is the 
wont of provincial cities, I never heard a slander 
or a suspicion leveled against the most intrepid of 
those innocent Unas. 

From the morale one must needs pass to the 
personel. On the appearance of a dcbutarite, they 
say, the first question in Boston is, " Is she clever ?" 
In New York, *' Is she wealthy ?" In Philadel- 
phia, " Is she well-born ?" In Baltimore, " Is she 
beautiful ?" And, for many years past, common 
report has conceded the Grolden Apple to the 
Monumental city. I think the distinction has 
been fairly won. 

The small, delicate features, the long, liquid, 
iridescent eyes, the sweet, indolent jnorbidezza, 
that make southern beauty so perilously fascinat- 
ing, are not uncommon here, and are often united 
to a clearness and brilliancy of complexion scarcely 
to be found nearer the tropics. The Upper Ten 
Thousand by no means monopolize these personal 
advantages. At the hour of " dress parade " you 
cannot walk five steps without encountering a face 
well worthy of a second look. Occasionally, too, 



54 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

you catch a provokingly brief glimpse of a high, 
slender instep, and an ankle modeled to match it. 
The fashion of Balmorals and kilted kirtles pre- 
vails not here ; and maids and matrons are 
absurdly reluctant to submit their pedal perfec- 
tions to the passing critic. Even on a day when 
it is a question of Mud v. Modesty, you may 
escort an intimate acquaintance for an hour, and 
depart, doubting as to the color of her hosen. But, 
conceding the justice of Baltimore's claim, and 
the constant recurrence of a more than statu pul- 
chritudo — I am bound to confess that, with a single 
exception, I saw nothing approaching supreme 
perfection of form or feature. 

The exception was a very remarkable one. 

I write these words, as reverently as if I 
were drawing the portrait of the fair Austrian 
Empress, or any other crowned beauty : indeed, 
I always looked on that face, simply as a won- 
derful picture, and so I remember it now. I 
have never seen a countenance more faultlessly 
lovely. The pose of the small head, and the sweep 
of the neck, resembled the miniatures of Giulia 
Grisi in her youth, but the lines were more 
delicately drawn, and the contour more refined ; 
the broad open forehead, the brows firmly arched, 
without an approach to heaviness, the thin 
chiselled nostril and perfect mouth, cast in the 
softest feminine mould, reminded you of the First 
Napoleon. Quick mobility of expression would 



CAIWA. 55 

have been inharmonious there. With all its 
purity of outline, the face was not severe or coldly 
statuesque — only superbly serene, not lightly to 
be ruffled by any sudden revulsion of feeling ; a 
face, of which you never realized the perfect glory 
till the pink-coral tint flushed faintly through 
the clear pale cheeks, while the lift of the long 
trailing lashes revealed the magnifieent eyes, 
lighting up, slowly and surely, to the full of 
their stormy splendor. It chanced, that the 
lady was a vehement Unionist, and " rose," very 
freely, on the subject of the war. Sincere in her 
honest patriotism, I doubt if she ever guessed at 
the real object of her opponent in the arguments 
which not unfrequently arose. If there be any 
indiscretion in this pen-and-ink sketch from 
nature, I should bitterly regret the involuntary 
error, though its subject, to the world in general, 
remains nameless as Lenore. 

There is another peculiarity of Baltimore 
society, which a stranger will only perceive when 
he has passed withinside its porches. It is divided, 
not only into sets, but, as it were, into clans. 
Several of the leading families, generally belonging 
to the territorial aristocracy (let the word stand) 
that took root in the State at, or soon after, its 
settlement, have so intermarried, as to create the 
most curious net of cousinship, the meshes of 
which are yearly becoming more intricate and 
numerous. Yet there are no especial indications 



56 BORDER AlID BASTILLE. 

of exclusiveness or spirit oi clique ; rather it is the 
homely feeling of kinsmanship, which makes 
the intercourse of relations more familiar and 
unceremonious, than that of intimate acquaint- 
ances or friends. 

Cadets from many powerful houses in all the 
three kingdoms, were among the early colonists 
of Maryland. It is good to mark, how gallantly 
the " old blood " hold its own, even here ; how, 
the descendants of soldiers and statesmen have 
already attained the pride of place that their 
ancestors won at home centuries ago, by a like 
valiance of sword, tongue, or pen. Take one 
family, for instance, with whose members I was 
fortunate enough to be especially intimate. 

For generations past, the Howards have been 
men of mark in Maryland. Wherever hard or 
famous work was to be done, in field or senate, 
one, at least, of the name was sure to be found in 
the front. The present head of the family sus- 
tains right well the reputations of the worthies 
who went before him. A staunch friend and an 
uncompromising adversary — valuing political hon- 
esty no more lightly than private honor — liberal 
and unsuspicious to a fault in his social relations — 
very frank and simple in speech — in manner al- 
ways courteous and cordial — it would be hard to 
find, in Europe, an apter representative of the 
ancient regime. I believe, that those who really 
know General Howard, will not consider this 



CAPUA. 57 

sketch a flattery or an exaggeration. He was a 
candidate for the Grovernorship at the last elec- 
tion, and so powerful was his acknowledged 
personal 'prestige, that, in despite of overt intimida- 
tion and secret influences, which made a free 
voting an absurdity, the Black Rejpublicans exulted 
over his withdrawal as an important victory. 

Though ordinary business is so slack in Balti- 
more just at present, almost every male resident, 
not engaged in law or physic, has, or supposes 
himself to have, something to do. Instances of 
absolute idleness are very rare. So, by ten, A. M., 
all the men betake themselves to their offices, and 
there busy themselves about their affairs, after a 
fashion, energetic or desultory, till after two 
o'clock. The dinner hour varies from three to 
half-past five. Post-prandial labor is generally 
declined ; wisely, too, for few American diges- 
tions will bear trifling with ; though Nature must 
have gifted some of my acquaintance with a mar- 
vellous internal mechanism. How, otherwise, 
could they stand a long unbroken course of free 
living, with such infinitesimal correctives of ex- 
ercise? The evening is spent after each man's 
fancy — at the club, or at one of the many 
houses where a familiar is certain to meet a 
welcome, and more or less of pleasant com- 
pany. The entertainments are often more ex- 
tensive and formal, embracing, of course, music, 

and such are invariably wound up by a supper. 
3* 



58 BORDER AXD BASTILLE. 

I have heard certain of our seniors grow quite 
pathetic over the abolition of those social, if 
insalubrious, repasts. I wonder at such regrets 
no longer, if I cannot share them. There is 
surely an hilarious informality about these media- 
7iocM that attaches to no antecedent feast ; the 
freedom of a pic-nic, without its manifold inconve- 
niences : as the witching hour draws nearer, the 
" brightest eyes that ever have shone " glitter yet 
more gloriously, till in their nearer and dearer 
splendor a Chaldean would forget the stars ; and 
the " sweetest lips that ever were kissed " sip the 
creaming Verzenay, or savor the delicate " olio," 
with a keener honesty of zest. The supper- 
tables are almost always adorned by some of the 
pretty, quaint conceits of an artist, whose fame 
extends far beyond Baltimore. Mr. Hermann's 
ice-imitations of all fruits and flowers, are mar- 
vellously vivid and natural : I have never seen 
them equalled by any continental glaciers. 

I have lingered, perhaps, too long over too 
trifling details ; and yet, I wish I had done my 
subject more justice. Be it remembered, that 
I visited Baltimore at a season of unusual social 
depression. I do not speak of the stagnation in 
commerce, and the ruin of Southern interests and 
possessions, from wWch many have suffered heavy 
pecuniary loss : the effects of the war come home 
to the fair city yet more sharply. For months 
past the best part of her jeunesse doree have been 



CAPUA. 59 

fighting — as only the daintily born and bred can 
fight, at bitter need— in the van of Southern armies. 

Every fresh rumor of battle adds to the crowd 
of pale, anxious faces, and every bulletin lengthens 
the list of mourners. There are few families, 
Federal or Secessionist, who have not relatives — 
none that have not dear friends — exposed to 
hourly peril, from disease, if not from lead or 
steel. The suspense felt in England during the 
Crimean or Indian wars, cannot be compared to 
that which many here are forced to endure. We 
knew, at least, where our soldiers w^ere, and heard 
often how they fared : their sickness, wounds, and 
deaths were all recorded. But the scenes of this 
war's vast theatre are so often shifted, and com- 
munication with the remoter parts of the South- 
west is so uncertain, that months will elapse with- 
out a line of tidings from the absent ; the grass 
has grown and withered again, over many graves, 
before the weary hearts at home knew that the time 
W8S past, for waiting, and watching, and prayers. 

The last season in New York, they say, has 
been the gayest knowm for many years. The 
nouveaux riches have been spending their ill or 
well gotten gains right royally. But the temp- 
tations to exuberant festivity are few^ indeed in 
Baltimore, just now: wdth all that they have to 
endure and fear, it speaks w^ell for the hardihood 
of her citizens, that they can maintain even a 
chastened cheerfulness. 



60 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 



CHAPTER IV. 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 



I MAT not deny that I found the places in which 
my lines were just then cast exceedingly plea- 
sant : if no serious purpose had been before me I 
could have been contented to sojourn there till 
spring had waned. But it is some satisfaction 
now to be able to think and say — I do say it, in 
perfect honesty and sincerity — that I did not lose 
sight of my journey's main object for one single 
day from first to last. Indeed I should have felfc 
far more impatient of delay had it not been for 
the continuance of foul weather, and recurrence 
of heavy storms, which made armies no less than 
individuals, impotent to act or move. On the 
morning following my arrival, I took counsel with 
one who was, perhaps, better able to advise me 
as to my future course than any one then resident 
in Baltimore : certainly none could have been 
more heartily willing to help, both in word and 
deed. I owe to that man much more than a debt 
of ordinary hospitality. To say that his courtesy 
and cordiality were marked, where benevolence to 
a stranger is the rule, would very faintly express 
the personal trouble he undertook and the per- 



FEIENDS IN COUNCIL. 61 

sonal risk he incurred in his efforts to faciUtate 
and further my purposes. Up to this moment I 
do not beheve that he has grudged one whit of all 
this, much as he may have chafed at all having 
proved unavailing. I am right sorry that pru- 
dence forbids my chronicling here a name which 
will always stand high on my muster-roll of 
friends ; but the memory of almost any English- 
man who has visited Baltimore will fill up the 
blank that I must leave perforce. 

It seemed that there was a choice of two routes 
into >Secessia. The first — in many respects the 
easiest, and far the most traveled — lay through 
the lower counties of Maryland : the narrow 
peninsula on which Leonardstown is situated 
forming the starting point, whence the blockade- 
runner took to cross the Lower Potomac — there, 
from four to eight miles wide. It was necessary 
to run the gauntlet of several gun-boats and small- 
er craft ; but traffic at that particular time was 
carried on with tolerable regularity, and captures, 
though not unfrequent, were, so far, exceptions to 
a rule. On the land route, before reaching the 
point of embarkation, lay the chief difficulties. A 
horseman traveling with saddle-bags, became at 
once a suspicious personage, liable everywhere to 
jealous scrutiny. The main roads were already 
becoming so cut up as to be traversed only with 
great toil and difficulty by ordinary vehicles, 
while the cross roads were simply impassable by 



62 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

wheels. The principal turnpikes still hard enough 
to carry a " stage," e. g., that from Washington to 
Leonardstown, were more carefully guarded, and 
picketed at certain points, especially bridges. At 
any one of these points, a search might be ap- 
prehended, and anything beyond the simplest 
necessaries was liable to seizure as contraband of 
w^ar ; personal arrest might possibly follow, but 
the Federal outposts were said to content them- 
selves, as a rule, with confiscation and appropria- 
tion, unless any documents of a compromising 
nature were found. Such a course was obviously 
pleasanter for all parties, than sending in prison- 
ers — with their effects. Now it so chanced, that in 
the modest — not to say scanty — outfit, which I 
thought it worth while to bring out from home, 
was a certain pair of riding boots, by which I set 
especial store. They were such as many of our 
field-officers now in Canada are in the habit of 
wearing — coming high up on the thigh, perfectly 
water-proof, but very light, and pliant as a glove. 
I saw nothing of American manufacture to com- 
pare with them. Some of my duck-shooting ac- 
quaintance at Baltimore were never weary of ad- 
miring their fair proportions; nor did my sage 
counselor, before alluded to, refuse his warm ap- 
probation ; but he urged very strongly the hazard 
of my wearing them on my way to the Lower Po- 
tomac — to carry or transmit them otherwise w^as 
simply impossible. Nevertheless, neither Bom- 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 63 

bastes nor Dalgetty could have clung more obsti- 
nately to this favorite chaussurc than did I to mine. 
I knew that in the South, where an ordinary pair 
of cavalry boots commands readily seventy dollars 
or more, they could not be matched, and I had not 

Lived in the sa,ddle for years a score, 

without learning that on a long march the value 
of thoroughly well fitting and comfortable nether 
integuments is " above rubies." And they did carry 
me right well and safely through many rough ways 
and much wild weather, impervious alike to water, 
mud, rain, or snow. I will give honor where honor 
is due. Fagg, of Panton street, was the archi- 
tect.* So I "set my foot down," literally and me- 
taphorically, on this point, absolutely determined 
that boots and saddle-bags should share my 
fortunes. Eventually I compromised things, by 
investing in a colossal pair of overalls, warranted 
to smother and obliterate the proportions of any 
human legs, however encased beneath. 

But during this discussion the other route came 
naturally into question. It was the one most 
generally attempted by horsemen, and during 
the last ten weeks had been traversed re- 
peatedly with perfect success. 

^' If this looks like an " advertisement," I can't help it, and 
only say that it is a disinterested one ; it may be long before I 
need water-proofs again, and I owe their deserving manufacturer 
nothing but— justice. 



G4 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

Ill this neighborhood there were one or two 
fords, easily crossed at ordinary seasons, and 
only impassable after continuous downfalls of 
snow or rain. In fact, the chief obstacle 
was not the river but the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal, which runs close along the northern bank 
from Cumberland to Washington. It is not 
broad, but very deep, muddy, and precipitous, nor 
could I hear of any one who had succeeded in 
getting a horse across it, or who had even made 
the attempt. The only passages were by bridges 
over, and culverts under, the water-way. These 
were, of course, zealously guarded ; but it was 
possible, occasionally, to attack a picket with an 
irresistible " silver spear ;" and several instances 
had lately occurred of sentinels keeping their eyes 
and ears shut fast during the brief time required 
for a small mounted party to pass their posts. I 
do not mean to insinuate that venality was the 
general rule ; so far from this being the case, I 
understood that it was necessary to make such 
overtures with great caution, while the negotia- 
tion involved certain delay and possible failure. 
Detachments were constantly shifted from point 
to point, and regiments from station to station. 
Some corps were notoriously more accessible than 
others. According to common report, the recruits 
from NewEngland, Massachusetts, and Connecticut 
were the easiest to deal with, and the subalterns 
were said to be usually open to a fair offer. But 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 65 

perhaps this was a scandal after all ; for the Mary- 
lander holds the Yankee proper in such bitter dis- 
like and contempt that he would miss no chance of 
a by-blow. 

Once over the river at this point and you were 
comparatively safe. There were no regular pickets 
or patrols on the further bank, and only scattered 
reconnoitering parties of cavalry were to be evaded. 
Under cover of darkness, with a good local guide, 
this was easily done — one long night's ride. 

To this route my Mentor and I did at last seri- 
ously incline, for good and sufficient reasons. 

The Southern "trooper" fares, I believe, far 
better in many ways than his Northern compeer. 
Besides being more carefully groomed and tended, 
he carries a rider better able to husband a failing 
anima.'s strength, so as to "nurse him home." But 
the "raiders" travel often far and fast through a 
country fetlock-deep on light land, where proven- 
der is scanty and shelter there is none. The daily 
wear and tear of horse-flesh during this last bitter 
winter has been something fearful, and even at the 
time I speak of the difficulty of obtaining a really 
serviceable " mount " in Virginia could hardly be 
over-estimated. From one thousand to one thousand 
five hundred dollars were spoken of as ordinary 
prices for a fair charger, and men willing to give that 
sum had been forced to go into South Carolina be- 
fore they could suit themselves. In my own case 
the difficulty was increased ; for in hard condition, 



66 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

without cloak, valise, or accoutrements, I drew 
fourteen stone one pound, in a common hunting- 
saddle. Now, an animal well up to that weight, 
with anything like action on a turn of speed, is 
right hard to find on the Transatlantic seaboard. 
Even in Maryland, where horse-flesh is compara- 
tively plenty, and breeders of blood-stock abound, 
such a specimen is a rarity. Even among the 
stallions, I can scarcely remember one coming up 
to the standard of a real weight -carrier, with the 
exception of Black Hawk. I saw hundreds of 
active, wiry hackneys, excellently adapted for fast, 
light work, either in shafts or under saddle ; their 
courage and endurance, too, are beyond question ; 
but looking at them with a view to long, repeated 
marches (where — if ever — you ought to have ten 
" pounds in hand "), I decided that they were about 
able to carry — the boots honorably mentioned 
above. However, after mature consideration and 
long debate, it was settled that I should, if possible, 
be mounted before starting, instead of trusting to 
chance beyond the border. This, of course, decid- 
ed the selection of routes : no quadruped could 
cross the Lower Potomac. 

Some scores of miles up the country there lived, 
and I trust lives still, a certain small horse-dealer, 
a firm Secessionist at heart, well versed in the 
time-tables of the road southward ; indeed, his 
house was, as it were, a principal station on the 
underground railway. He was reputed trust- 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 67 

worthy, and fairly honest in traffic. I can indorse 
this conscientiously, only hoping that such a re- 
markable characteristic as the last named will not 
identify the individual to his hurt. I was at once 

put into communication with Mr. Symonds, 

let us call him, for the sake of old hippie mem- 
ories. He spoke confidently as to my ultimate 
prospects of getting across, without pretending to 
fix an exact day, or even week. Shortly before 
my arrival he had forwarded several travelers, who 
arrived at their journey's end without the slight- 
est let or hindrance. I suppose there is no indis- 
cretion in saying that Lord Hartington and Colonel 
Leslie were among the fortunate ones. Mr. Sym- 
onds " thought he had something that would suit 
me," and, a few days later, the animal and the 
dealer paraded for inspection in Baltimore. 

I was much pleased with both. The man seemed 
to understand his business thoroughly ; without 
making extravagant promises, he expressed himself 
willing to serve my purpose to the utmost of his 
power, at any reasonable risk to himself, and 
spoke very moderately about the horse, asking for 
nothing more than a fair trial of his merits. I 
liked the animal better than anything I had seen 
so far. He was a dark-brown gelding, about 15*3, 
with strong, square hind-quarters, and a fair slope 
of shoulder — without much knee-action — but 
springy enough in his slow paces : his turn of 
speed was not remarkable, but he could last for- 



68 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

ever, and, if the ground were not too heavy, would 
gallop on easily for miles with a long, steady 
stride ; like most Maryland-bred horses, he had 
wonderfully clean, flat legs : after the hardest 
day's work, I never saw a puff on them ; he was 
not sulky or savage, but had a temper and will of 
his own ; both of these, however, yielded, after a 
sharp wrangle or two, to the combined influence 
of coaxing and a pair of sharp English rowels : in 
the latter days of our acquaintance we never had a 
difference of opinion. Considering the scarcity of 
staunch horse-flesh, the price asked was very 
moderate, and I closed the bargain on the spot. I 
was assured that my new purchase was of the 
Black Hawk stock, and he was christened " Fal- 
con " that same day. 

So Mr. Symonds departed, promising to set all 
possible wheels to work, and to inform me of the 
earliest opportunity for a start, the first desideratum 
being, of course, a reliable guide. 

I cannot say that the hours of my detention 
hung heavily. The social attractions of the place 
were ample enough to fill up afternoons and 
evenings right pleasantly. In the mornings, 
whenever the weather was not pitilessly bad, I 
rode or drove through the country round. 

I think no one understands the full luxury of 
rapid motion without bodily exertion, till they 
have sat behind a pair of first-class American 
trotters. The " wagon," to begin with, is a 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 69 

mechanical triumph. It is wonderful to see such 
lightness combihjd with such strength and 
stability. I have seen one, after five years' con- 
stant usage over fearfully bad roads. It was 
owned by a man noted for reckless pace, where 
many Jehus drove furiously; not a bolt or joint 
had started, the hickory of shafts and spokes still 
seemed tough as hammered steel. These carriages 
are roomy enough, and fairly comfortable, when 
you are in them, but that same entrance is apt 
rather to puzzle a stranger. The fore and hind 
wheels are nearly the same height, and set very 
close together ; even when the fore-carriage is 
turned so that they nearly lock, the space left 
for ascent between them is narrow indeed ; this 
same arrangement renders, of course, impossible 
a sudden turn in a contracted circle. But the 
dames and demoiselles who put their trust in these 
rapid chariots, make a mock at such small diffi- 
culties. You are shamed into activity after once 
seeing your fair charge spring to her place, with 
graceful confidence, never soiling the skirt of her 
dainty robe. 

The team that I used to drive constantly were 
fair, but not remarkable performers; their best 
mile-time was a trifle under three minutes twenty 
seconds. Their owner had not had leisure to 
keep them in steady exercise, so that at first they 
were very skittish, and prone to break ; but they 
soon settled down to their work, and then did not 



70 BORDEE AND BASTILLE. 

pull an ounce toxD much for pleasure, even when 
spinning along at top-speecl, with their small lean 
heads thrust eagerly forward, after the fashion of 
the barbs called " Drinkers of the Wind." Once 
I drove, in single harness, a trotter whose time 
was close on two minutes forty-five seconds ; but 
this is not considered anything extraordinary, and 
the outside price of such an animal would be under 
one thousand dollars: once "inside the forties " 
the fancy prices begin, and go up rapidly to four 
thousand dollars, or higher. 

It must be remembered that the roads in these 
parts cannot be compared, either for level or metal, 
with the highways over our champagne, they 
" cut up" fast in rough weather, and settle slowly, 
while the ground generally sinks and swells too 
abruptly to allow of a lengthened stretch at full 
speed. I often wished that the whole " turn-out" 
of which I have spoken could be transported, 
without the risk of sea-passage, into one of our 
eastern counties. I can hardly conceive a greater 
luxury to a "coachman" than sending such a pair 
along on the road leading into Norfolk from New- 
market. 

I had been some time in Baltimore before I was 
honored by an introduction to the most renowned — 
it is a bold word — of all its beauties. To many, 
even in England, the name of "Flora Temple" 
will not sound strange ; her great feat of the mile 
in two minutes nineteen seconds has never yet 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 71 

been equaled, and for the last three years she has 
rested idly on her laurels, in default of any chal- 
lenger to dispute her sovereignty of the turf. Her 
owner, W. Macdonald, Esq., resides within a short 
distance of the city, and, I doubt not, would 
receive any stranger with the same courtesy that 
he extended to me. His stables are well worth a 
visit, for, besides the fair champion, they contain 
several other trotters of no mean repute (one 
team, the " Chicago Chestnuts," is a notoriety), 
and the carriages exemplify every improvement of 
American manufacture. The building itself is 
very peculiar — perfectly circular, with a diameter 
of one hundred feet, and a dome-roof rising to fifty 
feet at the crown. In the centre is a large foun- 
tain of white marble, round which is a broad tan- 
ride, and outside this again the stalls, horse boxes, 
harness and carriage apartments. 

On the left-hand side of the entrance-arch is a 
large chamber, rush-strewn, like the firing-room of 
some ancient chatelaine, but brilliant with polished 
wood and metal, gorgeous with stained glass : that 
is the boudoir of the Queen of the Turf, and over 
the door-way are her titles of honor emblazoned. 
The Great Lady, as is the wont of her compeers, 
is somewhat capricious at times, and disinclined 
to parade her beauty before strangers ; but she 
chanced to be in a special good humor that day, 
and allowed me to admire her "points" at 
leisure 



72 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

It is hard to fancy a more faultless picture of 
compact activity and strength. Viewed from a 
distance, and, at first sight, her proportions deceive 
every one ; you are surprised, indeed, when you 
come close to her withers, and find that you are 
standing by a veritable pony, barely reaching 
fourteen hands three inches. But look at the long 
slope of shoulder — the chest wide enough to give 
the largest lungs free play in their labor — the flat, 
square quarters, the muscular fullness of the up]ier 
limbs, so perfectly "let down," the clear, sinewy 
legs, without a curb-mark or windfall to tell tales 
of fearfully fast work and hard training — and you 
will wonder less how the championship was won. 
They say that the Queen was never fitter than 
now ; yet since her zenith she has seldom rested, 
and is now long past the equine climacteric, and 
far advanced in her teens. 

This part of America is so constantly visited by 
my compatriots, that it may be well, while we are 
on this subject, to say a few words about the 
sporting resources of Maryland. 

There is veiy fair partridge-shooting in many 
districts. As I crossed the country in mid-winter, 
I could hardly judge of what the autumn cover 
would be ; but I heard that of this there was no 
lack, and that in October the birds would lie right 
well, especially in the weedy stubbles, and along 
the brushy banks of water-courses. In many 
places a fair shot may reckon on from ten to fif- 



FRIENDS m COUNCIL^ 73 

teen brace, and I could name two guns that have 
not unfrequently bagged from thirty to fifty brace 
on the Eastern Shore ; but I believe they shot 
with unusually " straight powder." There is a 
good show of woodcock at certain seasons ; but it 
sounds strange to English ears when they speak 
of the season opening in June ; the bird is much 
smaller than ours, weighing, I believe, about 
seven or eight ounces, and it is found much often- 
er in comparatively open ground than in thick 
woodland. 

But the royal sport of Maryland is the wild- 
foVl shooting on the Chesapeake Bay. The best 
of the season was passed long before my arrival ; 
but in two visits to Carroll's Island, I saw enough 
to feel sure that my Baltimore friends vaunted not 
its capabilities in vain. I cannot remember hav- 
ing seen elsewhere so promising a "ducking-point." 
Imagine a low, marshy peninsula, verging land- 
ward into stunted woods, full of irregular water- 
courses and stagnant pools — tapering off seaward 
into a mere spit of sand, on which reeds and bent- 
grass scarcely deign to grow, towards the extreme 
point, just where the neck is narrowest, are the 
" blinds " — ten or twelve in number — a long gun- 
shot apart, in which the '* fowlers " lurk, waiting 
for their prey. On either side stretch the broad 
estuary of the Gunpowder River, and the broader 
4 



74 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

waters of the Chesapeake, along whose shallows 
lie the banks of the wild celery on which the can- 
vas-back loves to feed. Changing these feeding- 
grounds soon after dawn and shortly before sunset, 
the fowls naturally cross the neck of the little 
penhisula : they will never willingly pass over 
land, unless they can see water close beyond. 
Occasionally you may have fair shooting all 
through the day, but, as a rule, the above- 
mentioned hours are those alone when good " fly- 
mg" may be reckoned on. When it is good, the 
sport must be superb : it is the very sublimation 
of " rocketing." You must hold straight and for- 
ward to stop a cock-pheasant whizzing over the 
leafless tree-tops — well up in the keen January 
wind ; but a swifter traveler yet is the canvas- 
back drake, as he swings over the bar, at the full- 
est speed of his whistling pinions, disdaining to 
turn a foot from his appointed course, albeit vague- 
ly suspecting the ambush below. The height of 
the " flying " varies, of course, greatly. I saw 
nothing brought down, to the best of my calcula- 
tion, within forty-five or fifty yards, and most were 
much beyond that distance. At first you let sev- 
eral chances slip, believing them to be out of 
shot; but the mighty duck-guns, carrying five or 
six drams of strong coarse powder, do their work 
gallantly ; and nothing can be more refreshing than 
the aplomb with which their victims, stricken down 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 75 

from that dizzy height, strike water, reeds, or 
sand. 

Among the many varieties of fowl — varying from 
wild swan to widgeon — that are slain here, the 
canvas-back holds, by common consent, the pre- 
eminence for delicacy of flavor and tenderness of 
meat ; but I confess I have thought almost as high- 
ly of an occasional " red-head " in perfect condi- 
tion. 

This, the most celebrated of all ducking points 
on the Chesapeake, is rented by a club, the mem- 
bers of which are all resident in Baltimore, or its 
neighborhood ; the number, I think, is limited to 
twelve. When they muster in force, the sleeping 
accommodation must necessarily be limited, as Mr. 
Russell describes it ; but there is room and verge 
enough in the quaint old homestead of the propri- 
etor for any ordinary party. The burly host him- 
self is quite in keeping with the place, and bears 
his part right jovially in the I'ough-and-ready revels 
that contrast not disagreeably with the social 
amenities left behind in the city. I spent some 
very pleasant hours of sunshine and twilight at the 
*' Colonel's" ; (he has as good a right to the title as 
many more pretentious dignitaries), though the 
"flying" was indifferent on both my visits. On 
the first occasion, though several varieties of fowl 
were bagged, we only secured one canvas-back, 
which was courteous enough to tumble to the 



76 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

stranger's gun. Sooth to say, the first interview 
with the uncompromising contraband who hakes 
you is a trial, and it is bitterly cold work for feet 
and fingei^s, when you first come into your " blind" 
under the early dawn ; but the blood soon warms 
up as the warning cries from the markers become 
more frequent ; the pulse quickens as the dark 
specks or lines loom nearer, defined against the 
dull red or silvery gray of the sky-line ; chills and 
shivers are all forgotten, as your first " red-head," 
pioneer of a whole "skeen" from the river- 
crashes down yards behind you, on the hard, wet 
sand that fringes the bay. 

In the genial October weather, during which 
comes the cream of the flying, the sojourn at 
Carroll's Island must be enviably delightful. But 
much I fear, that next autumn's prospects look 
brighter for the fowl than for their sedulous per- 
secutors. Who can say what changes may have 
been wrought in the fortunes of some of those 
cheery sportsmen before next season shall open. 
Perhaps ere that the echoes of the Chesapeake will 
be waked by an artillery that would drown the 
roar even of the mighty duck-gun. The sea-fish- 
ing in the bay is remarkably good, but it is not 
greatly affected by amateurs ; and very few yachts 
are seen on its usually placid waters. Almost all 
the streams round the Chesapeake, in spite of their 
being perpetually "thrashed," and never preserved, 



FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 77 

abound in small trout ; but farther afield, in 
Northwestern Maryland, where the tributaries of 
the Potomac and Shenandoah flow down the woody 
ravines of Cheat Mountain and the Blue Ridge, 
there is room for any number of fly-rods, and 
fish heavy enough to bend the stifiest of them 
all. 

Before troubles began, they used to hunt, after a 
fashion, in most of the upland districts ; but the 
sport can hardly be very exciting. The gravest 
of the " potterings " of ancient days, when our 
great-grandsires used to '* drag " up their fox while 
the dew lay heavy on the grass, was a '^ cracker " 
compared to one of these runs, as I heard them 
described. Three or four couple of cross-bred 
hounds do occasionally weary and worry to death 
their unhappy quarry, after three or four hours 
" ringing" through endless wx)odlands ; unless, in- 
deed, he goes earlier to ground, in which case he 
is dug out to meet a quicker and more merciful 
death. The fact, that a heavy fall of snow is sup- 
posed greatly to facilitate matters, about settles 
the question of " sport." I should like to ask 
Charles Payne, or Goddard, their opinion of " prick- 
ing " a fox. However, to ride straight and fast 
over such a country would be simply impossible ; 
their detestable snake-fences meet you everywhere, 
with their projecting " zigzags " of loosely-piled 
rails ; you can hardly ever get a chance of taking 



78 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

them in your stride, and they are a fair standing 
jump with the top bar removed, which generally 
involves dismounting. The name of poor Falcon 
had led me so far afield, that I must continue my 
own chronicle in another chapter. 



THE FORD. 79 



CHAPTER V. 



THE FORD 



In about ten days I heard from Mr. Symonds. 
The road was not yet open, put a party was wait- 
ing to start. He had secured me a henchman in 
the shape of a private in an Alabama regiment 
who was anxious to accompany any one south, 
without fee or reward. The man was said to be 
well acquainted with the country beyond the 
Potomac, besides being really honest and cour- 
ageous. I had no reason to question these quali- 
fications, though his tongue was apt to stir too 
loudly for prudence, and too fast for truth ; while 
over the manner of his release (he had been for 
months a prisoner of war), there hung a mystery 
never cleared up satisfactorily. It was necessary, 
of course, that my squire should be mounted, and 
after some deliberation, it was settled that I should 
furnish him with a steed. I was moved thereto, 
partly from a wish to spare Falcon all dead weight 
in the shape of saddle-bags, partly from the knowl- 
edge that superfluous horseflesh was a commodity 
easily and profitably disposed of in Secessia. I 
did not trouble myself much about my second 



80 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

horseman's mount, merely stipulating for a mode- 
rate animal at a moderate price. I bought indeed 
"in the dark," and did not see my purchase till 
the day before our first actual start. This last 
negotiation concluded, I had nothing to do but to 
abide patiently till it pleased others to sound 
" boot and saddle." 

So day followed day till, in spite of all the 
social attractions of Baltimore, I began to chafe 
bitterly under the delay. I never could get rid of 
a half-guilty consciousness that I ought to be 
somewhere else, and that somewhere — far away. 
On the morning of 17th February, I was in the 
office of my friend and chief counselor, above 
mentioned, discussing the propriety of throwing 
aside the upper route altogether — selling back my 
cattle — and making my way as straight as possible 
to the shores of the Lower Potomac. We were 
actually debating the point when the door opened, 
and disclosed Mr. Symonds. He had come all in 
hot haste to tell us that a main obstacle was re- 
moved. The w^ater had been let out of the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio canal, so that it could now be 
easily crossed at any unguarded point. The picket 
was of necessity so widely scattered as to be 
easily evaded. The small party that my squire 
and I were to join, meant starting at latest on the 
following Friday or Saturday night. Mr. Symonds 
had no recent intelligence from the immediate 



THE FORD. 81 

bank of the river, but he believed that, in despite 
of the heavy rains and occasional snow storms, we 
should find one crossing place — White's Ford to 
wit — still barely practicable. 

I was already furnished with sadlery, &c., but 
small final preparations and divers leave-takings 
filled up every spare minute till afternoon on the 
following day. I was to sleep the first night at a 
house only a few miles from Mr. Symonds', so as 
to be in readiness to start at two hours' notice, 
and my Mentor insisted on seeing me so far on my 
way. It had b««n snowing at intervals all the 
morning, and the flakes were driving thick and 
blindingly as we drove out of Baltimore. Our 
team faced the heavy road and frequent hills right 
gallantly, but the fifteen miles seemed long, that 
brought us to the door of our quarters, faces 
aching with the lash of sleet — beard and mous- 
taches frozen to bitterness. 

As my hosts were in nowise privy to my plans, 
I may venture to say, that for the next three days 
I was more or less a guest at Drohoregan Manor. 
This ancient homestead of the Carroll family is 
very well described by Mr. Russell in his 
" Diary : " his visit, however, was to tlie late 
Professor, who died last year. The law of primo- 
geniture doe,s not prevail h.ere, and it was only an 
accidental succession of single, heirs, that brought 

an undivided patrimony down to the present g^e- 
4» 



82 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

ration. One cannot help regretting that the estate 
is to be cut up now into five shares or more. 
Eleven thousand acres of fertile hill and dale, 
sinking and swelling gently, so as to attract all 
the benignity of sun or breeze — not more densely 
wooded than is common on our own western 
shores, and watered to an ornamental perfection — 
truly on any civilized land, such is a goodly 
heritage. 

The home-farm of Drohoregan Manor has long 
been celebrated for the breeding of a high-class 
stock of all kinds. I saw sheep there scarcely 
coarser than the average of Southdcwns; and 
some fine, level, clean-limbed steers. Here has 
stood, for a dozen years past, the renowned Black 
Hawk, considered by many superior to his sire, 
the Morgan stallion of the same name. As I 
before said, he realized my idea of a thorough-bred 
weight carrier, better than anything I saw in 
Maryland ; though if one of his stock — a brown 
two-year-old colt — " furnishes " according to pre- 
sent promise, he will probably be surpassed in his 
turn. There was a large number of colts and 
fillies well adapted for rapid road work ; and I 
w^as not surprised to hear that at the sale which 
followed quickly on my visit, they fetched more 
than average prices. I did not think so highly of 
the cart stock, principally the produce of a big 
gray Pereheron horse. Both he and Black Hawk 



THE FOED. 83 

remain in their present quarters, for the late 
Colonel Carroll's eldest son retains the Manor 
House, and proposes, I believe, to continue both 
the farming and breeding establishments on no 
diminished scale. I rode up to Mr. Symonds' in 
the afternoon of the 19th; he was absent, but 
his wife informed me that it was possible — though 
scarely probable — that our party would start the 
following night. Then, for the first time, I made 
acquaintance with my squire for the nonce — 
" Alick " he was called ; I cannot remember his 
surname — he had a rugged, honest face, and a 
manner to match ; but I was rather disconcerted 
at hearing that he knew no more of riding or 
stable work than he had picked up i^ a fortnight's 
irregular practice in an establishment where horses 
as well as men were taught to *' rough it " in good 
earnest. 

I liked my new purchase much more than my 
new acquaintance. The former was a raw-boned, 
leggy roan, with a coarse head, a dull eye, and 
a weakish neck, far too low in condition, as I saw 
and said at once ; not fitted for long travel through 
a country where a horse must needs lose flesh 
daily, from pure lack of provender. However, 
there was no time to make a change, so I was 
fain to hope that easy journeys at first, and a light 
weight on his back, might gradually bring the 
ungainly beast into better form. It appeared 



84 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

that he was just recovering from the distemper 
and "sore tongue," which had followed each other 
in rapid succession. These two diseases are the 
terror and bane of Virginian and Maryland stables. 
An animal who has once surmounted them is 
supposed to be seasoned, and acquires consid- 
erable additioniil value, like a " salted " horse in 
Southern Africa. 

So I returned to the Manor for that night, and 
thither, early the next morning, came Symonds 
in person. He informed me that the start from 
his house would not take place till after night- 
fall on the following evening, so that I had thirty 
vacant hours before me. I knew that the Eng- 
lish mail had reached Baltimore, and it then 
seemed so uncertain when letters would reach 
me again, that I could not resist the temptation 
of securing my correspondence. My host was 
himself returning to the city, so I accepted the 
offer of a seat in his wagon, and we had a plea- 
sant drive back through the clear frosty weather. 

The next day — having made the Post-office 
" part," and said those few more last words that 
are forgetten at every leave-taking — I retraced 
my steps, by the afternoon train, to Ellicott's 
Mills, where I found a carriage from Drohoregan 
Manor awaiting me. At this point, the Patapsco 
hurries through a channel narrowed by embank- 
ments and encroachments of the granite cliffs, 



THE FORD. 85 

looking upon the yellow water streaked with 
huge foam-clots, chafing against its banks lip high. 
I could not but augur ill for our chances of tra- 
versing a wider and wilder stream. But it was 
too early then to think of desponding, so casting 
forebodings beliind, I drove up to our rallying 
place, rattling over four long leagues under 
seventy minutes. The black ponies tossed their 
heads, and champed their bits, gayly, as they 
made best time over the last mile. 

I found that the party that purposed actually to 
cross the Potomac was, from one cause or another, 
reduced to four, including myself and my attend- 
ant. A cousin of Symonds', hight Walter, with 
the same surname — there is a perfect clan of them 
in those parts — was to accompany us only to our 
first resting-place, a farm-house about eighteen 
miles off. Our proposed companions were both 
Maryland men ; one had already served for some 
months in a regiment of Confederate cavalry, and 
was returning to his duty, after one of those fur- 
loughs — often self-granted— in which the Borderers 
are prone to indulge ; the other was a mere youth, 
and had never seen a shot fired ; but a more 
enthusiastic recruit could hardly be conceived. 

Twilight had melted into darkness long before 
the rest of the party arrived ; then an hour or 
more was consumed in the last preparations and 
refreshments. It was fully nine o'clock on the 



86 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

night of February 21st, when we started from 
Symands' door, strengthened for the journey 
with a warm stirrup-cup, and warmer kind wishes 
from the family, including two verij " sympathiz- 
ing" damsels, who had come in from neighboring 
homesteads to bid the Southward-bound good 
speed. 

Before we had ridden a mile, the Mary landers 
turned off to a house where they were to take up 
some letters, promising to rejoin us before we had 
gone a league. But we traversed more than that 
distance, at the slowest foot-pace, without being 
overtaken, and at length determined to wait for 
the laggards, drawing back about thirty paces off 
the path, into a glade where there was partial 
shelter from the icy wind that swept past, laden 
with coming snow. There we tarried for a long 
half-hour (told on my watch by a fusee-light), and 
still no signs of our companions. Symonds (the 
cousin), who abode with us still, began to mutter 
doubts, and the Alabama man to grumble curses 
(he had ever a fatal facility in blasphemy), and I 
own to having entertained divers disagreeable 
misgivings, though I carefully avoided expressing 
them. At last our guide thought it best that we 
should make our way to a lonely farm-house, 
about seven miles short of our night's destination, 
where, in any case, the party was to have called 
in passing. So we wound on through the narrow 



THE FORD. 87 

wood-paths in single file — sinking occasionally pas- 
tern-deep, where the thin ice over mud-holes sup- 
planted the safe crackling snow-crests — traversing 
frequent fords, where rills had swollen into brooks 
and turbid streams; some of those gullies must 
have been dark even at noon-day, with overhang- 
ing cypress and pine ; they were so bitterly black 
now that you were fain to follow close on the 
splash in your front, for no mortal ken could have 
pierced half a horse's length ahead. At length, 
we left the path altogether, and pulling down 
a snake fence, passed through the gap into 
open fields. It was all plain sailing here, and a 
great relief after groping through the dim wood- 
land ; we encountered no obstacle but an occa- 
sional " zigzag," easily demolished, till we came 
to a deep hollow, where the guide dismounted — 
evidently rather vague as to his bearings — and 
proceeded to feel his way. Somewhere about 
here there was a " branch " (or rivulet) to be 
crossed, and danger of bog and marsh if you 
went astray. At last he professed to hav-e dis- 
covered the right point ; but neither force nor 
persuasion could induce the stubborn brute he 
rode to face it. There was nothing for it but 
trying what " giving him a lead " would do. 
The place was evidently a small one, but the 
landing absolutely uncertain ; so I put Falcon at 
it steadily, letting him have his head. Then first 



88 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

the poor horse displayed his remarkable talent for 
getting over difficulties in the dark, a talent that 
I have never seen equaled in any other animal, 
and which alone made him invaluable. He 
took off — almost at a stand — out of clay up to 
his hocks, exactly at the right time, and landed 
me on firm ground without a scramble. A min- 
ute afterward there came a rush, a splutter, and a 
crash, and a struggling mass rolled at my feet, 
gradually resolving itself into a man, a roan horse, 
and two saddlebags. So sped Alabama's maiden 
leap. It was soft falling, however, and no harm 
beyond the breaking of a strap was done ; but 
it was fully three-quarters of an hour before our 
united efforts got Symonds' refusee across. We 
accomplished it at last by hurling the brute back- 
wards into the branch by main strength, and then 
wading ourselves through mud that just touched 
the upper edge of my thigh-boots. Once over, 
the track was easily found, and a barking chorus, 
performed by half a dozen vigilant mongrels, 
guided us up to the homestead we were seeking, 
just as the snow began to fall heavily. The stout 
farmer was soon on foot — men sleep lightly in 
these troublous times — proffering food, fire, and 
shelter. Our guide strongly advised our remain- 
ing there till we could gain some tidings of our 
lost companions ; it seemed so unlikely that they 
should have passed or missed us on the road, that 



THE FORD. 89 

he could not but fear lest accident or treachery 
should have detained them ; he offered himself to 
retrace our track, and make all inquiries, which 
he alone could do safely. So it was settled ; and, 
after making the horses as comfortable as rude 
accommodation would allow, my squire and I 
betook ourselves to rest, not unwillingly, about 
three, A. M. 

The traveler's first waking impulse leads him 
straight to the window or to the weather-glass. 
I turned away from the look-out in utter disgust ; 
a hundred yards off, through the cloud of driving 
snow-flakes, and a level white mantel, rising up 
to the lower bars of the snake-fences, merged 
tillage into pasture undistinguishably. I chroni- 
cled that same day as the dreariest of all theii 
remembered Sabbaths. Besides some odd num- 
bers of an ancient Methodist magazine, there was 
no literature available, and all the Tetters that I 
cared to write had been dispatched before I left 
Baltimore. 

A visit to the shed which sheltered our horses, 
did not greatly raise one's spirits. Poor Falcon 
was hardy as a Shetlander, and in any ordinary 
weather I never thought of clothing him, but no 
wonder he shivered there, under a rug, coated 
inch-deep with snow ; the rough-hewn sides and 
crazy roof gaping with fissures a hand-breadth 
wide and more, were scanty defense against the 



90 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

furious drift, which swept through, not to be 
denied. I tried to comfort my horse, by chafing 
his legs and ears till both were thoroughly warm, 
setting Alick at the same task with the roan ; 
though clumsy and apt to be obstinate, he worked 
with a will. At last we had the satisfaction of 
seeing both animals feed, with an appetite that I, 
for one, could not but envy. Our hosts were so 
cordial in their honest hospitality, that one felt 
"ungrateful in being so wearily bored. In the 
afternoon we had a visit from a neighboring 
farmer, who, I believe, had been summoned with 
the benevolent intent that he should enlighten or 
entertain the stranger. He was one of those 
stout, elderly men, who, by dint of a certain 
portliness of jiresence, gravity of manner, and 
slowness of speech, acquire in their own country 
much honor for social or political wisdom. He 
was quite up to the average rank of rustic oracles; 
nevertheless, our converse dragged heavily; it 
was '' up hill all the way." There was a depress- 
ing formality about the whole arrangement ; my 
interlocutor sat exactly opposite to me, putting 
one cut-and-dried question after another ; never 
removing his eyes from my face, while I answered 
to the best of my power, save to glance at the 
silent audience, as though praying them to note 
such and such points carefully. I began to feel 
as I did in the schools long ago, when the viva 



THE FOED. 91 

roce examiner was putting me through my facings; 
and was really glad when the one-sided dialogue 
ended. The queries were very simple for the 
most part, relating chiefly to the sympathies and 
intentions of Great Britain with regard to the 
war. On the latter point I could, of course, 
give no information beyond vague surmises, prac- 
tically worthless; as to the former, I thought 
myself justified in sa3'ing that the balance of 
public feeling, in the upper and agricultural classes 
especially, leant decidedly southward. But here, 
as elsewhere, I found it impossible to make Seces- 
sionists understand or allow the wisdom, justice, 
or generosity of the non-interference policy hith- 
erto pursued by our Government. This is not the 
time or place to discuss an important question of 
statecraft, nor am I presumptuous enough to assert 
that different and more decisive measures would 
have had all the good effect that their advocates 
insist upon ; but however justifiable England's 
conduct may have been according to theories of 
international law, I fear the practical result will 
be that she has secured the permanent enmity of 
one powerful people, and the discontented distrust 
of another. It is ill trusting even proverbs hn- 
plicitly ; that old one, about the safe middle 
course, will break down, like the rest, sometimes. 
My pertinacious querist stopped, I suppose, when 
he had got to the end of his list, and apparently 



92 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

spent the rest of the evening in a slow process of 
digestion ; for he would break out, now and then,' 
at the most irrelevant times, with a repetition of 
one of his former interrogations, which I had to 
answer again, briefly as I might. About sundown 
le Bon Gualtier returned, sorely travel-worn him- 
self, and with an utterly exhausted horse. He 
had ascertained that our companions had gone on, 
probably to our original destination of the previous 
night ; though why they should have passed our 
present resting-place without calling there, re- 
mained a mystery ; nor was that point ever satis- 
factorily explained. To proceed at once was 
impossible, for a fresh horse had to be found for 
our guide ; this, a cousin of our host's offered to 
provide by the following evening (we could noc 
venture to stir abroad in daylight) ; he also offered 
to make his way to the farm where the missing 
men were supposed to be, early in the morning, 
and to bring back certain intelligence of their 
movements. This was only one instance of the 
cordial kindness and hearty co-operation which I 
met with at the hands of these sturdy yeomen. 
Not only would they rise and open their doors at 
the untimeliest of hours, and entertain you with 
their choicest of fatlings, corn, and wine, but there 
was no amount of personal toil or risk that they 
would not gladly undergo to forward any south- 
ward-bound stranger on his way ; nor could you 



THE FORD. 93 

have insulted your host more grossly than by 
hinting at pecuniary guerdon. Before midnight 
the snow had ceased to fall ; the next morning 
broke bright and sunnily, though the frost still 
held on sharply. Two or three visitors, masculine 
and feminine, came in sleighs during the day, and 
altogether it passed much more rapidly than the 
preceding one. About four, P. M., our good- 
natured messenger returned ; our comrades had 
duly reached the spot originally fixed for the Sat- 
urday night's halt, and had pursued their journey 
on the Sunday evening to the farm which was to 
be our last point before attempting the Potomac ; 
their written explanation was very vague, but they 
promised to wait for us at the house they were 
then making for. We at once determined to press 
on thus far that night, though the score or more 
of miles of crow-flight between w^ould certainly 
be lengthened at least a third, by the detours neces- 
sary to avoid probable pickets or outposts, and 
the deep snow must make the going fearfully 
heavy. Walter's fresh mount came down — a 
powerful, active mare, in good working condition, 
but with weak, cracked hoofs that would not have 
carried her a day's march on hard, stony roads. 

Under the red sunset we started once more, with 
more good wishes ; indeed, I had ridden a mile 
before my fingers forgot the parting hand-grip of 
my stalwart host. 



94 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

Now in thinking or speaking of these night rides 
beforehand, one is apt to invest them with a slight 
tinge of romance and excitement, which is not un- 
attractive. Let me say, that in practice, nothing 
can be more dreary and disagreeable. I can fancy 
a canter through or canter over some woodland 
paths, under the capricious light of a broad sum- 
mer or autumn moon, with one or more pleasant 
companions, being both exhilarating and agreeable, 
but traverse the same number of miles in a night 
of winter or early spring, when ycu have to blun- 
der on at a foot's pace in Indian file, thankful, 
indeed, when the snow or mud is only fetlock 
deep, where, if you are in mood for conversation, 
you dare not often speak above a whisper (I never 
could see the sense of this, far out in the wilds, 
but the guides are imperative), where the solitary 
excitement is found in the possible proximity of a 
picket, or the probable depth of a ford. I think 
you would agree with me, that the only object in 
the journey on which your eyes or thoughts de- 
light to dwell, is the " biggit land " that ends it. 

On that especial night we had one thing in our 
favor — the reflection from the fresh white ground 
carpet would have pi'evented darkness, even with- 
out the light of a waxing moon. But it was slow 
and weary traveling. It would have been cruelty 
to have forced the horses beyond a walk through 
snow that in places was over their knees ; besides 



THE FORD. 95 

which, we dared not risk a jingle of stirrup or bri- 
dle-bit, where an outlying picket might be within 
ear-shot. Twice we passed within twenty yards 
of where the fresh track showed that the patrol 
had recently turned at the end of his beat ; but 
the guide knew the country thoroughly, and 23ro- 
fessed to have no fears. To speak the truth, I had 
heard him, when in the ingle-nook, and warm with 
Old Eye, vaunt so loudly his own sagacity and 
courage, that I conceived certain misgivings as to 
how far either were to be relied on. That night, 
however, he fully maintained part of his character 
by leading us safely and surely through a perfect 
labyrinth of tracks, sometimes diverging across 
the open country, and occasionally plunging into 
woodland where there was no vestige of a path. 

I ought to be nearly weather-proof by this time ; 
but, in spite of a warm riding-cloak and a casing 
of chamois leather from neck to ankle, I felt some- 
times chilled to the marrow ; my lips would hardly 
close round the pipe-stem, and even while I 
smoked the breath froze on my moustache, stiff 
and hard. My flask was full of rare country 
whisky, fiery hot from the still ; but it seemed at 
last to have lost all strength, and was nearly taste- 
less. I would have given anything for a brisk 
trot or rattling gallop to break the monotonous 
foot-pace, but the reasons before stated forbade 
the idea : there was nothing for it, but to plod 



96 BORDER AXD BASTILLE. 

steadily onwards. Walter himself suffered a good 
deal in hands and feet ; but the Alabama man, 
utterly unused to the lower extremes of tempera- 
ture, only found relief from his misery in an occa- 
sional drowsiness that made him sway helplessly 
in his saddle. The last league of our route lay 
through the White Grounds. The valley of the 
Potomac widens here towards the north, and six 
thousand acres of forest stretch away — unbroken, 
save by rare islets of clearings. There was no 
visible track ; but our guide struck boldly across 
the woodlands, taking bearings by certain land- 
marks and the steady moon. It was not dark even 
here ; but low sweeping boughs and fallen trunks 
often hidden by snow, made the traveling difficult 
and dangerous. I ceased not to adjure Alick, who 
followed close in my rear, to keep fast hold of his 
horse's head. I doubt if he ever heard me, for he 
never intermitted a muttered running-fire of the 
most horrible execrations that I ever listened to 
even in this hard-swearing country. Whether 
this ebullition of blasphemy comforted him at the 
moment I cannot say ; but, if " curses come home 
to roost," a black brood was hatched that night, 
•unless one whole page be blotted out from the 
register of the Recording Angel. 

Both men and horses rejoiced, I am sure, when, 
about two, A. M., we broke out into a wide clear- 
ing, and drew rein under the lee of outbuildings 



THE FORD. 97 

surrounding the desired homestead. The farmer 
was soon aroused, and came out to give us a 
hearty though whispered welcome. It is not 
indiscreet to record Ids name, for he has ah'eady 
" dree'd his doom ;" he was noted among his 
fellows for cool determination in purpose and 
action, and truly, I believe that the yeomanry of 
Maiyland counts no honester or bolder heart than 
staunch George Hoyle's. 

Our last companions were sleeping placidly 
up-stairs — that was the best intelligence that our 
host could give us. He laughed at the idea of 
fording the Potomac, declaring that no living man 
or horse could stand, much less swim, in the 
stream. Knowing the character of the man, and 
his thorough acquaintance with the locality, one 
ought to have accepted his decision unquestioned ; 
but I was not then so inured to disappointment 
as I became in later days, and wished to see for 
myself how the water lay. After a short sleep 
and hurried breakfast, Hoyle took me to a point 
whence we looked down on a long reach of the 
river. At the first glance through my field-glasses, 
every vestige of hope vanished. The fierce cur- 
rent — its sullen neutral tint checkered with fre- 
quent foam-clots — washed and weltered high 
against its banks, eddying and breaking savagely 
wherever it swept against jut of ground or ledge 
of rock, while ever and anon shot up above the 



98 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

turbid surface tossing trunk of uprooted alder 
or willow. Mazeppa's Ukraine stallion, or the 
mightiest destrier that ever Paladin bestrode, would 
have been whirled away like withered leaves, ere 
they had swum ten of the seven hundred yards 
that lay between us and the Virginia shore. I 
could hardly believe my eyes, when Hoyle pointed 
out to me the fording-place where, on the 23d of 
last December, he had crossed without wetting 
his horse's girth. 

It was waste of time to look longe", so, in no 
pleasant mood, I returned to the farm-house, 
where a council of war was incontinently held. 
The Marylanders had already aiTanged their plan ; 
they had a vague idea of some ferry to the north- 
ward, and intended to grope their way to it some- 
how. Before attempting this, it was necessary to 
divest themselves of any suspicious articles, either 
of baggage or accoutrement; indeed, they left 
every scrap of clothing behind, except what they 
carried on their persons, and one change of under- 
raiment sewn up in the folds of a rug. They 
meant to assume the character of small cattle- 
dealers, and as far as appearance went, succeeded 
perfectly — nothing more unmilitary can be con- 
ceived. Their horses were passably hardy and 
active, but stunted, mean-looking animals, while 
the saddle-gear would have been dear anywhere 
at five dollars. The men themselves had the lazy, 



1 



THE FORD. 99 

slouching look peculiar to the hybrid class with 
which they wished to be identified. They were 
civil and sorry enough about the turn affairs had 
taken ; but evidently quite determined that we 
should part company. Tiie elder of the two took 
me aside, and spoke thus, as near as I can re- 
member : 

"Look here, Major, I'm right down sorry about 
this here ; and I'd have liked w^ell to have gone 
slick through with ye, but it won't work in 
the parts we're agoing to try. Four men and 
horses ain't so easy put up as two, and there ain't 
many as'll venture it. The sort of your brown 
horse is kind'er uncommon up along there, and 
they'd spot him if they didn't spot you, and you'd 
never get to look like a citizen — not if you was 
to shave and wear a wig. There's no two words 
about it : it ain't to be done." 

I believe the man intended to gild the pill with 
a rough compliment ; in any case, I was bound to 
swallow it. There was no sort of contract be- 
tween us, nor any promise of remuneration ; I 
only rode by sufferance in that company. I felt, 
too, that he was right : it would be very difficult 
for any Englishman — drilled or undrilled — to dis- 
guise himself as a Virginia cattle-dealer, so that 
keen native eyes could not detect the travestie. 
I do not think I should have pressed the point, 
even had I been in a position to do so ; as it was, 



100 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

I yielded with good grace, only begging my late 
companions to let me have the earliest information 
as to the route, if they succeeded in getting 
through. This they readily promised ; so, with 
the concurrence of the good Walter, I determined 
to fall back, for the present, on my original 
" base," with the consoling reflection that I was 
only imitating the most renowned Federal com- 
manders. 

All this was scarcely settled, when our host 
hurried in — rather a blank look on his bold face — 
to say that one of his contrabands had just come 
in, after an absence of two hours : he had taken 
one of his master's horses without leave, and ab- 
solutely declined to state where, or why, he had 
gone. As 1,800 Federals, including a regiment of 
cavalry, occupied Poolsville — only six miles off — 
it was easy to guess in what direction the " col- 
ored person " had wandered. There was no time 
for argument, and even chastisement was reserved 
for a more fitting season : in fifteen minutes more, 
we had ridden swiftly across the cleared lands, and 
with Hoyle for our pilot, were winding through 
the ravines and glades of the White Grounds. 
The day was dull and cloudy : so, having no sun 
to guide us, we, the strangers, speedily lost all 
idea of direction ; even Walter, the confident, 
owned himself fairly puzzled. But our host led 
on at a steady pace, never pausing to consult land- 



THE FORD. 101 

marks or memory ; evidently every bush and 
brake was familiar to him ; there was not the 
ghost of a track, but we seemed generally to follow 
the winding of a rapid, shallow stream, up whose 
channel we often scrambled for forty yards or 
more. 

We had na ridden a league, a league, 
0* leagues but barely three, 

when we struck a path leading straight through 
the woods to Clarksburg — the first point on the 
proposed route of the two Marylanders : they 
meant to feel their way cautiously thence in a 
northwesterly direction ; the elder had one or two 
acqimintances in the neighborhood of Frederick 
City that he hoped would assist them. So, with 
leave-takings, hurried but amicable, our party 
separated. "We, the other three, proposed to 
make for our quarters of the last Sunday, and for 
ten miles further our kind host rode in our com- 
pany, absolutely refusing to turn back till we 
were in a country that Walter knew right well, 
and might be considered comparatively safe ; then 
he left us, proposing to return home by another 
and yet more circuitous route, so as to baffle pos- 
sible pursuers. He did get home safe, but was 
arrested within the same week — not, I trust, be- 
fore he had moderately chastised that treacherous 
contraband — and we met, two months later, in 
the old Capitol. 



102 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

Three hours' more riding brought us within 
sight of the town, where we intended to refresh 
ourselves and our cattle, and, perhaps, to abide for 
the night. We relied so implicitly on the hosj)i- 
tality we were certain to find, that we had pro- 
vided ourselves with no food of any sort ; my 
flask, too, had been emptied on the previous night. 
Fancy our disgust, when we found the shutters 
closed, everything carefully locked up, and no 
living soul about the place but two helpless little 
colored persons of tender age. The whole family 
had gone out to a sledging " frolic," and would 
not return before late at night ; it was then past 
P. M. ; we had breakfasted lightly at seven, and 
been in the saddle ever since nine o'clock. We 
did discover some Indian corn for the horses, and 
left them to feed under their old shed, only remov- 
ing bridles and loosening girths. 

About ten minutes later, we were sitting under 
the house-porch — it was narrow and deep, as is 
the fashion in those parts, and boarded up the 
sides breast high — I was lighting a sullen pipe, 
hoping to deaden the hungry cravings which could 
not be satisfied, when I felt my arm pulled 
violently ; a hoarse whisper said in my ear, " By 
G — d, they've got us, " and turning, I met the 
good Walter's face, white, and convulsed with 
emotions which I caire not to define or remember. 
Alick was already crouching below the boarding, 



THE FORD. 103 

and I stooped, too, mechanically ; as I did so, I 
followed the direction of the guide's haggard eyes : 
by my faith, just where the wood opened on the 
clearing, about one hundred and eighty yards to 
our front, there sat on their horses six Federal 
dragoons, surveying the landscape with some 
interest. It was very odd to see them gazing 
straight down upon us, evidently unconscious of 
our proximity ; but they were looking from light 
into the shadow of the porch : fortunately, too, 
the horses were well under cover. It chanced 
that, close to the gate in the outermost inclosure, 
there was a watering-pond ; around and from this 
tracks of all kinds of cattle crossed and diverged 
in every direction ; as we entered we had remarked 
many hoof-prints turning abruptly to the right, 
probably left by the sleighing party. The 
dragoons halted five minutes or so in consultation ; 
then they turned and rode off quickly along that 
same right-hand track. The house was so evi- 
dently shut up, that I presume they thought it 
would be wasted time if they searched it then. 

Resistance would have been utterly out of the 
question, even if the numbers had been more 
equal, for the only arms in the party were my 
own — a long hunting-knife worn in my belt, and 
a fire-shooter carried by Alick; so we prepared 
for escape instantly. I had to go round to the 
back of the house to get my hunting-cup, w^hich I 



104 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

had left there. When I came out I found Walter 
already mounted : his mare was not in the same 
shed with our horses. In a few hurried words he 
explained that it would be best for him to make off 
at once, and wait for us in the woods below, to 
which the clearing sloped down from the home- 
stead. Though I had before formed my own 
opinion as to his vaunted valiance, I confess I was 
rather disappointed ; but he was not a hireling, 
and I had no right to prevent him from looking 
after his Bwn safety first; I only shrugged my 
shoulders without replying, and went into the 
other shed to help Alick saddle up. The Ala- 
bamian was much less delicate or more determined 
than myself; when he heard of Walter's inten- 
tions, his face darkened threateningly. 

" By the ! " he said, " he ain't going to 

quit after that fashion," and as he went out to- 
wards the corner where Walter still lingered, I 
saw his hand shift back to the butt of my revolver. 
Now, I was too sensible of the guide's good inten- 
tions and disinterested kindness to wish to press 
hardly on a temporary loss of nerve, so I busied 
myself with buckle and curb-link, and refrained 
from assisting at the debate ; it was very brief, 
nor can I say if Alick's arguments were intimi- 
dating or conciliatory ; I rather suspected the 
former, from the expression of his face when he re- 
turned, simply remarking, *' I've made it all right, 



THE FORD. 105 

Major. He stops with us as long as we want him 
to." 

Ten minutes afterwards we gained the shelter 
of the woods, and, keeping always well down in 
the gullies or hollows, were picking our way in a 
direction nearly parallel to that taken by our pur- 
suers. This was our only course, as we dared not 
show ourselves as yet across open ground or along 
traveled roads. We might have ridden about a 
league and a half — it is difficult to judge distance 
in thick cover and over broken ground, when the 
pace is so constantly varied — our guide's confi- 
dence began -to return, and, with it, his weakness 
for self-laudation. He began once more to recount 
his many narrow escapes, and was sanguine as to 
his chance of pulling through this — the closest 
shave of all. We were halting on the bank of 
a muddy, swollen stream, in some doubt whether 
we should try the treacherous bottom there or 
higher up, when, looking over my shoulder, I saw 
the figures of four horsemen, looming large against 
the red evening sky as they passed slowly across 
the sky-line, on the crest of some abrupt rising 
ground about 300 yards to our right : soon two 
more showed themselves, making the pursuing 
party complete ; they were evidently retracing 
their steps — for what reason I know not. Almost 
at the same instant the Alabamian caught sight of 
the enemy ; but before he could speak I touched 
5* 



106 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

our guide on the shoulder with my hunting-whip, 
pointing in the direction of the danger. If you 
ever saw a wing-tipped mallard's flurry when the 
retriever comes upon him unawares, you will have 
a good idea of how the valiant Walter '^ squat- 
tered" through the ford. The twilight was dark- 
ening fast, and, in the shadow of the ravine, we 
were almost safe from the eyes of our pursuers ; 
but I marvel thafc even at such a distance their 
ears were not attracted by the flounder and the 
splash. My squire and I followed more leisurely ; 
indeed, throughout, the former had displayed a 
creditable coolness and determination ; also, he 
seemed to take very kindly to my own favorite 
motto, *' Festina lente " — " More haste, worse 
speed." 

That was our last look at the dragoons. We 
learnt afterwards that, later in the evening, they 
searched the farm-house (the family had just re- 
turned), and not only struck our trail through the 
woods, but held it within three miles of our rest- 
ing-place for the night ; there the numerous cross- 
roads, and the utter confusion of many tracks, 
bafiled our pursuers ; probably, too, their horses 
by that time were in poor condition for following 
up an indefinite chase. 

Alick and I determined to push for our original 
starting-point — the house of Symonds of that ilk. 
Another two hours' riding brought us to where a 



THE FORD. 107 

lane turned off towards Ben Gualtier's home. He 
was evidently anxious to find himself a free agent, 
and this time even the Alabamian did not seek to 
detain him. The rest of the road we had tra- 
versed, on the preceding Saturday, and we could 
hardly miss our way. So there I parted from my 
honest guide, with many kind wishes on his side, 
and hearty thanks on mine. I rather repent hav- 
ing alluded to that little nervousness ; but, after 
all, it was hardly a question of physical courage ; 
we sought to avoid imprisonment, not peril to 
life or limb. 

My stout horse. Falcon, strode cheerily over the 
last of those dark, tiresome miles without a stum- 
ble or sign of weariness ; but the roan's ears were 
drooping, and he slouched along heavily on his 
shoulders long before we saw the lights of Sym- 
onds' homestead, where we met a hearty if not a 
joyful welcome. We had not tasted food for thir- 
teen hours, during which we had scarcely been 
out of the saddle ; so even disappointment could 
not prevent our relishing to the uttermost the 
savory supper with which our hostess would fain 
have comforted us. 

Our talk was chiefly of the future, about which 
Symonds did not despond, though he wa^ disposed 
to blame, somewhat sharply, our late companions, 
for choosing to find their way South independ- 
ently ; I thought he was unjust then, and since 



108 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

that I have had ample evidence of their good 
intentions and good faith. 

The next morning I rode Falcon down into 
Baltimore, there to await fresh tidings, leaving 
Alick and the roan at Symonds', to await fresh 
orders. 



THE FERRY. 109 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE FERRY, 



I HAD not been in Baltimore three days when 
my plans were somewhat altered by the introduc- 
tion of a fresh agent. The guide, who accom- 
panied Lord Hartington and Colonel Leslie, had 
returned unexpectedly, and Symonds pressed me 
strongly to secure his services. He had made the 
traverse several times successfully, and was thor- 
oughly acquainted with most of the ground on both 
banks of the Potomac. He had now made his way 
on foot from the Shenandoah Valley, across the 
Alleghany Range, to Oakland ; thence by the cars 
to somewhere near Sykesville, on the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad. Here, the day began to break, 
and he would not trust farther to the short-sight- 
edness of Federal officials ; so he looked out for a 
soft place in a snow-drift, and leapt out, alighting 
without injury. The same reasons that made reti- 
cence useless in Hoyle's case apply here : to both 
men Republican justice has done its worst long 
ago. My new guide's name was Shipley. He was 
lying perdu in Baltimore when I first heard of him, 
so there was no difficulty in arranging an interview. 



110 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

After some hesitation, and not a little negotiation, 
Shipley agreed to pilot me through by one route 
or another. He was to ride my second horse, and 
keep the animal as a remuneration for his services, 
so soon as we should be fairly within Confederate 
lines. He would not promise to start before the 
expiration of a full week, as the clothes and other 
necessaries which he had come specially to obtain 
could not be got ready sooner. This new arrange- 
ment involved two changes which did not please 
me, viz., the elimination of poor Alick from the 
party, and the shifting of my saddle-bags from the 
roan on to Falcon, for the guide stipulated that 
each should carry his own baggage. Symonds, 
however, was very urgent that I should close with 
the conditions at once ; he had the highest opinion 
of Shipley's talents and trustworthiness, and in- 
sisted that such a chance should not be let slip. 
He promised that Alick, if possible, should be pro- 
vided with a mount, so as to be still enabled to 
accompany us. I could not, of course, be expected 
to increase my already double risk in horse-flesh. 

So we struck hands on the bargain, and I re- 
signed myself pretty contentedly to another delay. 
The days passed rapidly, as they always did in 
Baltimore on most afternoons. I rode Falcon out 
for exercise and " schooling." He soon became 
very clever at the only obstacles you encounter in 
crossing this country — timber fences, and small 



THE FERRY. Ill 

brooks with steep broken banks ; though, to the 
last, he always would hang a little in taking off, 
he never dreamt of refusing. 

Before the week was quite out, Alick came 
down from Symonds', bringing tidings of our 
late companions, the two Marylanders. They 
had succeeded in crossing by a horse-ferry at 
Shepherdstown — a small village not far from 
Sharpsburg, and about seven miles from the 
battle-field of Antietam. The letter was written 
from the south bank of the Potomac, and fur- 
nished us with all the necessary names and 
halting-points on the route. Now, everything 
looked promising again. It was soon settled 
that Alick and Shipley should make their way 
across the country to Sharpsburg with the two 
horses (this was the latter' s own arrangement, 
and he, too, was unkind enough to object to my 
un-citi zenlike appearance). I was to meet them 
there, at a certain house, on a certain day, trav- 
eling by another route — through Frederick 
city. Thither I betook myself by the train 
leaving Baltimore, on the afternoon of March 
the 10th, arriving at Frederick nearly two hours 
behind time, in consequence of a difficulty be- 
tween the wheels and the rails, the latter having 
become sulkily slippery with the sleet that came 
on in earnest after nightfall. Very early the next 
morning I started for Petersville, near which vil- 



112 ~^ BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

lage, in the shadow of the South Mountain, lay 
the country-house of the good-natured friend who 
had offered to forward me to Sharpsburg. 

I shall not easily forget that drive ; the distance 
was rather under fourteen miles, and it was per- 
formed in something over four hours; }et the 
load consisted simply of my driver, myself, and 
my saddle-bags, in the lightest conceivable wagon, 
drawn by a pair of horses especially selected for 
strength rather than speed. We traveled on a 
broad turnpike, not inferior, I was told, in ordi- 
nary times to the average of such roads ; in many 
places the mud literally touched the axles, and 
more than once we should have been set fast in 
spite of the struggles of our team, if I had not 
lightened the weight by descending into a quag- 
mire that reached fully half-way up my thigh- 
boots. 

At last we struggled through, reaching my 
friend's house with no other damage than some 
strained spokes and a broken spring. There I 
found horses ready caparisoned, and a faithful con- 
traband to guide me on my way. The ride was as 
pleasant as the drive had been disagreeable. It was 
positive rest to exchange the jolting and jerking 
of the carriage for the familiar sway of the saddle. 
I had a strong hackney under me, a bright clear 
sky overhead, and a companion who, if not bril- 
liantly amusing, was very passably intelligent. 



I 



THE FERRY. 113 

He was able to tell me all about the South Moun- 
tain fight : indeed, our route lay right across the 
centre of that bloody battle-ground. Riding along 
the valley, with the hills on our left, we soon 
came to Birkettsville : close above was the scene 
of the most furious assaults, and the most obsti- 
nate struggle The quaint little hamlet — remind- 
ing you of a Dutch village — ^looked cheerful 
enough now, as the sun shimmered over the 
dark-red bricks, and glistening roofs grouped 
round a more glittering chapel-cupola ; but one 
could not -help remembering, that thither, on a 
certain afternoon, in just such pleasant weather, 
came maimed men by hundreds, crawling or being 
carried in ; and that for weeks after, scarce one of 
those cozy houses but sheltered some miserable 
being moaning his tortured life away. The undu- 
lating champaign between the Catoctin and South 
Mountains, that forms the broad Middletown val- 
ley, seems to invite the manoeuvres of infantry 
battalions ; but, climbing the steep ascent in the 
teeth of musketry and field-batteries, must have 
been sharp work indeed, though the assailing 
force doubtless far outnumbered the defenders. 
I think the carrying of those heights one of the 
most creditable achievements in the war. 

The terrible handwriting of the God of Battles 
is still very plainly to be discerned ; all along the 
mountain-side trees — bent, blasted, and broken — 



114 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

tell where round-shot or grape tore through ; and 
scored bark, closing often over imbedded bullets, 
shows where beat most stormily the leaden hail. 
Near the crest of the mountain, there are several 
patches of ground, utterly differing in color from 
the soil around, and evidently recently disturbed. 
You want no guide to tell you that in those 
Golgothas moulder corpses by hundreds, cast in, 
pell-mell, with scanty rites of sepulture. Besides 
these common trenches, there are always some 
single graves, occasionally marked by a post with 
initials roughly carved. It is good to see that, 
after the bitter fight, some were found, not so 
weary or so hurried, but that they could find 
time to do a dead comrade — perhaps even a dead 
enemy — one last kindness. 

Descending from the ridge, we rode some way 
up a narrow valley — where overhanging pine- 
woods and soft green pastures, traversed by rapid 
streams, reminded me often of the Ardennes — and 
then climbed the Elk Range, beyond which lies 
the field of Antietam. We soon crossed the 
creek, along whose banks was waged that fierce 
battle that made men think as lightly of the 
South Mountain fight as if it had been but a 
passing skirmish, and I rode uj^ to the appointed 
meeting-place in Sharpsburg just a few minutes 
in advance of the appointed hour. 

My first question, after making myself known 



THE FEREY. 115 

to the good man of the house, was naturally, of 
my horses and men. Will you be khid enough to 
fancy my feelings, when I heard that they were 
miles away, and — the reason why. Three days 
before the ferry-boat had been carried away and 
shattered by the floods ; nothing but a skiff could 
cross till a cable was rigged from bank to bank ; 
there w^as no chance of this being completed 
before the beginning of the following week. The 
neighborhood was too dangerous to linger in ; 
there was a provost-marshal guard actually sta- 
tioned in Sharp sburg : so my men, hearing of the 
disaster on their road, had very properly remained 
at their last halting-place, about ten miles farther 
up the country. I was so savagely disappointed 
that i hardly listened to my new friend, as he pro- 
ceeded to give some useful hints on our route and 
conduct, whenever we -should succeed in getting 
over the river. I only remember one suggestion: 
" if I was stopped anywhere this side of Win- 
chester, I might give a fictitious name, and say 
that I was going to visit my son, an officer in the 
Federal army." Now, as I have barely entered on 
my eighth lustre, I can only suppose that the 
great bitterness of my heart imparted to my face, 
for the moment, a helpless — perhaps imbecile — 
look of senility. I had no alternative, however, 
but to retreat, as my men had done ; the place was 
evidently too hot to hold me : already, through 



116 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

the window, I saw a shabby dragoon paying sus- 
picious attention to my horses, contraband, and 
saddlebags. I was greatly relieved, on going out, 
to find that the warrior was too stupidly drunk to 
be actuated by anything beyond an idle, purpose- 
less curiosity. So, after receiving directions as to 
where I was likely to rejoin my companions, I set 
my face northeast again, and rode out into the 
deepening darkness with feelings not much less 
sullen than the black rock of clouds massed up 
behind, that broke upon us, right soon, with wind 
and drenching rain. 

My horse, as well as I, must have been glad 
when we reached the homestead we were seek- 
ing, for throughout the afternoon I had ridden 
quickly wherever there was level ground, calcu- 
lating on a night's rest in Sharpsburg. I had 
some difficulty in convincing the farmer that I 
was a true man and no spy ; having once realized 
the fact, he showed himsL4f not less hospitable 
than his fellows. I was not surprised to find my 
men gone ; with all his good-will to the cause, 
their host had not dared to entertain such suspi- 
cious strangers longer than twenty-four hours: 
keen eyes and ready tongues were rife all around, 
and we had proof already, in poor George Hoyle's 
case, how quickly and sternly the charge of 
"harboring disaffected persons" could be acted 
upon : he had sent the men to separate secluded 



THE FERRY. 117 

farm-houses, whence they could be summoned at 
a few hours' warning. He strongly advised me 
to wait elsewhere till the horse ferry was re- 
established, of which he promised to give me the 
very earliest intelligence : so I at once determined 
to take the Hagerstown stage to Frederick next 
morning (the house stood not many yards from 
the main road), and the rail from thence back to 
Baltimore, leaving men and horses in their pre- 
sent quarters. It was evident that the honest 
Irishman spoke (he was an emigrant of twenty 
years' standing) thus in perfect sincerity, from no 
lack of hospitality, though in poor mood for con- 
viviality. I did strive hard, all that evening, to 
meet his simple, social overtures half way, simply 
that I might not appear ungracious or ungrateful. 
The homestead nestles close to the foot of the 
South Mountain, near Middleton Gap, some miles 
north of the point where I had crossed that day. 
We talked, of course, about the battles (they were 
within sound, though not sight, of Antietam). I 
found that a field-hospital had been established in 
the field immediately adjoining the orchard, and 
that some of the wounded, ch4efly Confederates, 
who could not be moved, had lain there for many 
days. I asked the good wife how she felt while 
the Southern army was marching past her doors. 
" Well," she said, *' I wasn't greatly skeared, only 
I thought I'd pull down the new parlor-curtains ; 



118 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

but they behaved right well, and didn't meddle 
with nothin' to signify ; not like them Yankees, 
who are always pickin' and stealin'. But I'd like 
to get right out of this country, anyhow ; we'll 
never do no good here while the war lasts." 

I wonder how many voices, if they dared speak 
out, would join in the dreary *' refrain of those, 
last few words V" 

No noteworthy incident marked my journey 
back to Baltimore. I remained there till the fol- 
lowing Tuesday, and, in that interval, received a 
note from Shipley, which both puzzled and dis- 
quieted me ; it was purposely vague and obscure ; 
but, as far as I could make out, the writer thought 
it would be better at once to make for some point 
northwest of Cumberland — to retrace, in fact, the 
route that he had himself recently traversed ; I 
rather inferred that he meant to move in that di- 
rection without waiting for me, leaving me to 
make my way to a rendezvous which he would 
appoint by letter. Now, of all parties concerned 
in the expedition the one whose safety I valued 
next to my own was Falcon. I had been loth to 
trust him, so far, to a rider about whose qualifica- 
tions I knew nothing — except that it was very 
unlikely he would have good " hands." I had no 
notion of risking the good horse, without me, on 
an indefinitely long journey, where he might be 
indiflferently cared for. I wrote at once to stop 



THE FERKY. 119 

any such movement ; aod with this I was forced 
to be content. 

Late on the Monday evening, the expected sum- 
mons reached me — sent specially by train. The 
next morning I started for Frederick, whence I 
intended to drive through Middletown to Boones- 
borough, near which was the place of meeting. 
The first thing I saw in the morning paper, when 
I becran to read it in the cars, was a fresh 2:eneral 
order, suggestive of most unpleasant misgivings. 
General Kelly had just succeeded to the command 
of Maryland Heights, and of the division speciallv 
selected for picket duty on the river. This — his 
first order — enjoined the seizure of all boats of 
every description between Monocacy creek and 
St. John's (comprising the whole of the Upper 
Potomac) ; no passenger or merchandise could be 
conveyed from Maryland into Virginia without a 
proper pass, and then only at the two specified 
places — Harper's Ferry and Point of Rocks ; any 
one transgressing this edict was liable to arrest 
and trial by martial law. 

Throwing down the ill-omened journal, I could 
not forbear a muttered quotation : *' The day looks 
dark for England." Nevertheless, I drove on 
straight from Frederick, determined to prove 
what the morrow would bring forth. It was late 
when we reached the small road-side hotel, on the 
ridge of the South Mountain, where I had arranged 



120 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

to halt for the night ; but, late as it was, I had 
time to hear fresh evil tidings before I slept. 

The Shepherdstown ferry was in working order 
at noon on the Monday. The same evening, soon 
after dusk, four mounted men, with two led 
horses, rode down, requiring to be set across 
instantly. The ferryman objected, stating that his 
orders were imperative against putting any one 
over, after sundown, without a special pass. The 
men insisted, stating that they bore dispatches from 
Kelly to Milroy, and enforced their demands with 
threats. The unhappy ferryman was totally 
unarmed, and only wished to escape. They shot 
him to death without further parley, under the 
eyes of his mother and sister, who saw all from 
their windows. Then they ferried themselves and 
their horses across, and left the boat on the Vir- 
ginia bank, after knocking out two or three of her 
planks. Naturally there was a great revulsion of 
popular feeling in the country, and there had been 
a real emeute round the murdered man's grave. 
When they had buried him, that day, in Sharpsburg, 
no one, suspected of Southern sympathies, could 
venture openly to appear. From all that I could 
learn, the authors of that butchery were not Con- 
federate soldiers, or even guerrillas, but purely and 
simply horse-thieves, who had come over with the 
sole object of plunder, tempted by the enormous 
prices that horse-flesh could then command in 
Virginia. 



THE FERRY. 121 

Very early the next morning I had a visit from 
the Irishman, who lived hard by. Things did not 
look less gloomy when I had heard what he had to 
tell. To begin with, that unlucky tongue of 
Alick's had been doing all sorts of mischief. He 
never touched strong liquors, so there was not 
even that excuse for his imprudence. Instead of 
remaining quiet in the secluded retreat to which 
he had been sent, he would persist in hanging 
about in the immediate neighborhood of Boones- 
borough, and appeared to have spoken freely about 
our projects, greatly exalting and exaggerating 
their importance ; indeed, he could scarcely have 
said more if we had been traveling as accredited 
agents between two belligerent powers. Such 
vainglorious garrulity was not only intensely pro- 
voking, but involved real peril to all partes con- 
cerned. I thought the Irishman was perfectly 
right in taking that blundering bull by the horns, 
and acting decisively on his own responsibility, 
inasmuch as there was no time to communicate 
with me. He insisted that the Alabamian should 
quit the neighborhood without an hour's delay — 
there had already been talk of his arrest — furnish- 
ing him with certain necessaries and a few dollars 
on my account. In despite of the edict aforesaid, 
there were still punts and skiffs concealed all along 
the river bank, and a footman unincumbered with 
baggage could always be put over without difficulty 
6 



122 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

Indeed, Alick had actually crossed into Virginia, 
and returned safely, while he was loitering about 
Boonesborough. I never saw the Alabamian again, 
though I heard from him once, as will appear 
hereafter. He carried away with him my best 
wishes and my revolver ; I hope both have profited 
him. Where caution or diplomacy are not required, 
his sterling honesty and dogged courage will always 
stand him and others in good stead ; if his superiors 
can only tie up his tongue, I believe they will 
*' make a man of him yet." 

As to Shipley, I found that it was not consi- 
dered prudent for him to await my arrival there, 
as a search might be made over the Irishman's 
premises at any moment. He had been sent back 
on the previous afternoon to a house near New- 
market, a village some thirty miles east of 
Boonesborough, so that we must almost have 
crossed on the high road leading to Frederick city ; 
there I was certain to find both him and Falcon. 

The Irishman was decidedly of opinion that to 
persevere in our enterprise at the Shepherdstown 
ferry or anywhere in the immediate neighbor- 
hood, would be not only the height of rashness, 
but absolute waste of time. He advised our 
striking northward at once, by the Cumberland 
route, which then appeared to be the only one 
offering possible chances of success. Even on the 
Lower Potomac, the cordon of pickets and guard- 



THE FERRY. • 123 

boats had been so strengthened of late as to 
become well nigh impervious, and captures were 
of hourly occurrence. 

Slowly — and I fear rather sullenly — I admitted 
the justice of my friend's counsel, as I walked 
down to his stable, where the roan had been 
standing since Alick's departure. Perhaps even 
while I write, the war-tide is surging backwards 
and forwards once again past the doors of that 
cozy homestead ; but I trust its roof-tree is still 
inviolate by fire or sword, and that no rude hand 
has scorched or torn the " new parlor-curtains," 
in which my trim little hostess took an innocent 
pride. It was past noon when I bade farewell to 
my friends, and mounted the roan, to strike 
Shipley's back trail. There was a light blue sky 
overhead, though the wind blew intensely cold, 
and hoofs on the hard frozen ground rang as on 
pavement. For the first eighteen miles or so, 
which brought us to Frederick, my horse stepped 
out cheerily enough, though he carried far more 
weight than he had yet been burdened with, in 
the shaj^e of myself and full saddle-bags. Here 
we baited, at an obscure inn which had been 
recommended to me as *' safe ;" and late in the 
afternoon held on for Newmarket. I found the 
farm-house I sought without any difficulty, but 
the owner was down in the village, a mile or so 
off. Without dismounting, I asked to see the 



124 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

mistress, and a thin, sickly-looking woman came 
to the door. At my first question — relating of 
course to Shipley — a glimmer of distrust dawned 
on her pale, vague face. " There was no one 
there except her own family, and she had never 
seen or heard of a man on a brown horse." I was 
too thoroughly inured to disappointment by this 
time to feel angry — much less surprised — at 
anything in that line. Evidently I had to do with 
one of those impracticable yet timorous females — 
strong in their very weakness — who will persist in 
bearing a meek false-witness till the examiner's 
patience fails. So my answer was quiet enough. 
" Pardon me, I think your memory is treacherous. 
You surely must at least once in your natural life, 
have seen or heard of * a man on a brown horse.' 
But if you have known nothing of such a remark- 
able pair within — the last month for instance, I 
fear you can't help me much. If you will tell me 
where to find your husband, in Newmarket, and 
allow me to light my pipe, I'll not trouble you 
any more." These benevolences the pale woman 
did not withhold, but she saw me depart with a 
wintry smile, and I heard her distinctly mutter to 
a handmaiden — fearfully arid and adust — who 
peered over her mistress' shoulder, " There's 
another on 'em, 1 know." 

I found the husband in Newmarket, easily 
enough — at the " store," of course : this is invaria- 



THE FERRY. 125 

bly the centre of all gossiping and liquoring-up, in 
such villages as cannot boast a public bar-room. 
When I delivered certain verbal credentials, he 
v^as disposed to be more communicative than his 
spouse ; but his information was not very clear or 
satisfactory. It appeared that on the previous 
morning, some hour before dawn, a man had knock- 
ed at the door and asked for shelter : from the de- 
scription, I at once recognized my guide and Fal- 
con. But, for once, Shipley's over-caution told 
against him : he not only declined to give his 
name, but would not state, precisely, whence he 
came or whither he was going : there were many 
Federal spies about, laying traps for Southern 
sympathizers ; so the former got suspicious, and 
instead of welcoming the stranger, prayed him to 
pass on his way. This solitary instance of inhos- 
pitality is thus, I think, easily accounted for. I 
could not blame my *' informant ;" but the state of 
things was enough to chafe even a meek temper ; 
the roan's long legs had begun to tire under the 
unwonted weight before I reached Newmarket, 
and he rolled fearfully in the slowest trot ; yet I 
had sworn not to sleep before I laid my hand on 
Falcon's mane, and I felt, with every fresh check, 
more savagely determined to keep the trail as long 
as horse-flesh would last under me. I knew there 
were few places in that county where Shipley 
would dare to trust himself even for a night's 



126 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

lodging : some of his relations lived within half a 
league of Symonds ; and, if he meant fairly by me 
and mine, he was certain to advise the latter of his 
return : so I resolved to push straight on for my 
old quarters. Between me and the wished for gite 
there lay sixteen miles of hilly road — darkling 
every minute faster. 

I do not care to remember that dreary ride — 
or rather, walk — for two hours, at least, of the 
distance were done on foot. For awhile I had 
pleasanter companions than my own sullen 
thoughts : a pair of blue-birds kept with me, for 
two or three miles at least, fluttering and twitter- 
ing along the fences by my side, with the prettiest 
sociability — sometimes ahead, sometimes behind — 
never more than a dozen yards off; their briUiant 
plumage shot through the twilight like jets of 
sapphire flame : I felt absurdly sorry when they 
disappeared at last into the deepening blackness. 
I had been warned of the probability of encoun- 
tering a cavalry picket somewhere on my road : 
so I was not greatly surprised when the possible 
peril became a certain one. I was riding slowly 
up a low, steep hill, about ten miles from New- 
market (I think the two or three houses are dig- 
nified by the name of Rockville), when I saw the 
indistinct forms of several horses, and the taller 
figure of one mounted man, standing out against 
the clear night-sky on the very crest of the ascent. 



THE FERRY. 127 

I drew rein instinctively ; but in that particular 
frame of mind, I don't think I should have turned 
back, if the gates of the old Capitol had stood 
open across the road. So I jogged steadily on, 
trying to look as innocently unconscious as possi- 
ble. Seven or eight horses were picketed to some 
posts outside what I conclude was a whisky 
store ; the troopers were all comforting themselves 
within: the intense cold had probably made the 
solitary sentinel drowsy, for his head drooped 
low on his breast, and he never lifted it as I rode 
past. I could not attempt to make a run of it, 
so I did not quicken my speed, when the danger 
was left behind : indeed I halted more than once, 
listening for the sound of hoofs in my rear, in 
which case I meant to have made a plunge into 
the black woods on either side, so as to let the 
pursuit pass. Hearing nothing, I dismounted 
again, and strode on rather more cheerfully. 

The roan was not more glad than his rider, 
when we groped our way up the lane, leading 
through fields to Symonds' homestead. The good 
wife came out quickly, in answer to my hail, her 
husband being absent, as usual. 

" Oh, Major," she said, " I can't say how glad 
I am to see you. Shipley's so anxious about you : 
he hasn't been gone half an hour." 

" And the brown horse ?" I broke in. 

** He's in the stable ; and looking right well." 



128 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

With a huge sigh of relief I flung myself out of 
the saddle. 

" That'll do," I said, " Mrs. Symonds ; I don't 
want to hear another word, unless it relates to — 
ham and eggs." 

Truly, I fear that the neat-handed Phillis must 
have been aweary that night before she had satis- 
fied Gargantua. A messenger soon summoned 
Shipley, and he was with me before midnight ; he 
explained all his movements satisfactorily, and I 
could not but acknowledge he had acted through- 
out discreetly and well. We sat far into the 
morning, discussing future plans. Ultimately it 
was settled that he should start with the roan, so 
soon as the animal should be rested and fit for the 
road, traveling by moderate stages, to some rest- 
ing-place near Oakland. The rendezvous was to 
be determined by information he would receive in 
those parts ; and I was to be advised of it by a 
letter left for me in Cumberland. Shipley reck- 
oned that it would take him ten days at least to 
make his point. This interval I was to spend in 
Baltimore ; from which I was to proceed, with 
my horse, to Cumberland, in the cars. This plan 
had the double advantage of saving Falcon over 
two hundred miles of march, and of enabling my 
guide to make his way, more securely, as a soli- 
tary traveler. He could not trust himself on the 
railroad, nor would it have been safe to attempt 
the transport of two horses. 



THE FERRY. 129 

So, on the foil owing day, I made — anything 
but a triumphant — entry into Baltimore. Kindly 
greetings and condolences could not enable me 
during that last visit to shake off a restless discon- 
tent — a gloomy distrust of the future — a vague 
sense of shameful defeat. 
6« 



130 BORDER AND BASTILLE, 



CHAPTER VII. 

FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 

Early on Monday, the 30th of April, I addressed 
myself to the journey once more, takmg the cars 
to Cumberland, whither Falcon had preceded me 
by two days, and this time I bound myself by a 
vow — not lightly to be broken — that I would not 
see Baltimore again, of free will or free agency, 
till I had heard the tuck of Southern drums. The 
most remarkable part of the road is from Point of 
Rocks to Harper's Ferry, inclusive, where the rails 
find a narrow space to creep between the river 
and the cliffs of Catoctin and Elk Mountains. 
The last-named spot is especially picturesque, 
standing on a promontory washed on either side 
by the Potomac and Shenandoah, with all the 
natural advantages of abrupt rocks, feathery hang- 
ing woods, and broken water. Thenceforward 
there is little to interest or to compensate for the 
sluggishness of pace and frequency of delays. 
The track winds on always through the same 
monotony of forest and hill, plunging into the 
gorges and climbing the shoulders of bluffs, with 
the audacity of gradient and contempt of curve 



FALLEJ^ ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 131 

that marks the handiwork of American engineers. 
I wonder that one of these did not take Mount 
Cenis in hand, and save the monster tunnel. The 
line was strongly picketed ; everywhere you saw 
the same fringe of murky-white tents, and at every 
station the same groups of squalid soldiery. 

What especially exasperated me was, the inces- 
sant and continuous neighborhood of the Potomac. 
If you left it for a few minutes you were certain 
to come upon it again before the eye had time to 
forget the everlasting foam-splashed ochre of the 
sullen current, and at each fresh point it met you 
undiminished in volume, unabated in turbulency. 
Long before this I had begun to look at the river 
in the light of a personal enemy. I think that 
Xerxes, in the matter of the Hellespont, did 
wisely and well. Did I possess his resources of 
men and money, I would fain do so and more 
likewise to that same Potomac, subdividing its 
waters till the pet spaniel of '* my Mary Jane " 
should ford them without wetting the silky fringes 
of her trailing ears. 

Theoretically, a road passing through leagues 
of forest-clad hills ought to be pleasant, if not in- 
teresting; practically, you are bored to death 
before you get half way through. There is a 
remarkable scarcity of anything like fine-grown 
timber ; the underwood is luxuriant enough, 
especially where the mountain laurel abounds 5 



132 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

but in ten thousand acres of stunted firwood, you 
would look in vain for any one tree fit to compare 
with the gray giants that watch over Norwegian 
fiords, or fit to rank in ** the shadowy army of the 
Unterwalden pines." 

We reached Cumberland shortly after sundown ; 
my first visit was to the stables, where I hoped to 
find Falcon. Imagine my disgust on hearing that, 
through an accident on the line, the unlucky horse 
had been shut up for forty-six hours in his box, 
with provender just enough for one day. He had 
been well tended, however, and judiciously fed in 
small quantities at frequent intervals, and, barring 
that he looked rather " tucked up," did not seem 
much the worse for his enforced fast. 

I found Shipley's letter, too, where I had been 
told to expect it ; he had got so far without let or 
hindrance ; the meeting-place was set about forty 
miles northwest of Cumberland. I spent the eve- 
ning, not unpleasantly, partly at the house of a 
" sympathizing " resident to whom I had been 
recommended ; partly in the society of the most 
miraculous Milesian I ever encountered — off the 
stage or out of a book. He was stationed in Cum- 
berland on some sort of recruiting service, and 
from dawn to midnight never ceased to oil his 
already lissom tongue with " caulkers " of every 
imaginable liquor. I was told that at no hour of 
the twenty-four had any man seen him thoroughly 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 133 

drunk or decently sober. When we first met, his 
cups had brought him nearly to the end of the 
belligerent or irascible stage ; he was then inveigh- 
ing against the dwellers in the Shenandoah Valley, 
where he had lately been quartered, for their want 
of patriotism in declining to furnish their defend- 
ers (?) with gratuitous whisky and tobacco ; 
threatening the most dreadful reprisals when he 
should visit " thim desateful Copperhids " again. 
Suddenly, without any warning, he slid into the 
maudlin phase, taking his parable of lamentation 
against " this crule warr." 

'^ I weep, sirr," said he, " over the rrupture of 
mee adhopted counthree — the counthree that re- 
saved mee with opin arrums, when I was floying 
from the feece of toirants," &c., &c. 

When he informed me that he belonged to Mulli- 
gan's division, the words, *' I suppose so," escaped 
me, involuntary. Truly, if the rest of the brigade 
resembled the specimen before me, only the mighty 
Celt, whom Thackeray had made immortal, could 
command it. I shall never again look on the 
" stock " freshman as an exaggeration or carica- 
ture. 

I waited, the next morning, till a heavy snow- 
storm had resolved itself into a thin, driving sleet ; 
then my saddle-bags were strapped on Falcon, and 
I set forth alone, the good horse striding away, as 
strong under me as if he had never heard of short 



134 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

commons. We baited at Frostburgh, a small vil- 
lage set on a hill mined and tunneled with coal- 
pits ; fifteen miles or so beyond this was the road- 
side inn, where I proposed to halt for the night. 
The sun had long set when I rode up to the spectral- 
looking white house ; remarking with no pleasant 
surprise, that not a vestige of smoke rose from its 
gaunt chimneys. At the gate there stood a cart 
laden with some sort of household goods. Near 
this, a man, who lounged up, seeing me draw rein, 
to ask my business. It appeared that a *' flitting " 
had taken place that very day, and that he — the 
good man — was then betaking himself, with the 
residue of the chattels, to their new home, about 
five miles back on the Frostburgh road, whither 
his family had already gone. The next chance of 
a billet was at Grantsville, two leagues farther on. 
Now that sounds too absurdly short a distance to 
disquiet any traveler ; but neither is the fatal straw 
in the camel's load a ponderous thing, iierse. Both 
Falcon and I had reckoned that our day's work 
was done when we climbed the last hill, so it was 
in some discontent that we set our faces once more 
against the black road, and the stinging sleet, and 
the bitter north wind. 

Amongst Mrs. Browning's earlier poems, there 
is one to my mind almost peerless for sweety 
sonority of verse-music, and simplicity of strength. 
If it chance that any reader of mine has not 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 135 

admired "The Rhyme of the Duchess May," this 
page, at least, has not been written in vain. My 
saddle-bags held no volume other than a note- 
book, but that ballad in manuscript was nearly 
the last gift bestowed on me in Baltimore. Never 
was mortal mood less romantic than mine, so I 
cannot account for the fancy which impelled me, 
there and then, to recite aloud, how 

The 'bridegroom led the flight, on his red roan steed of might ; 
And the bride lay on his arm, still, as tho' she feared no harm, 

Smiling out into the night. 
" Fearest thou ?" he said at last. "Nay," she answered him in 

haste, 
*' Not such death as we could find ; only life with one behind, 

Kide on-^fast as fear — ride fast. ' ' 

I found one listener, more appreciative than the 
wild pine-barren, that surely had never been 
waked by rhythmic sound since the birthday of 
Time. Falcon pricked his ears, and champed his 
bit cheerily, as he mended his pace without warn- 
ing of spur. As for myself — the pure, earnest 
Saxon diction proved a more efficient "comforter" 
than "the many-colored scarf round my neck, 
wrought by the same kind white hands beyond 
the sea.;" hands that, even now, I venture to 
salute with the lips of a grateful spirit, in all 
humility and honor. 

So the way did not seem so long that brought 
us through the straggling, dim-lighted streets of 
Grantsville, up to the porch of its single hostelry, 



136 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

where, after some parley, I found a fair chance of 
supper and bed, and a heavy-handed Orson to 
help me in racking up Falcon. 

It would be very unfair to draw a comparison 
between an ordinary roadside inn in England and 
its synonym up in the country of America ; a 
better parallel is a speculative railway tavern 
verging always on bankruptcy. There is an 
utter absence of the old-fashioned coziness which 
enables you easily to dispense with luxuries. 
You enter at once into a stifling, stove heated 
bar-room, defiled with all nicotine abominations, 
where, for the first few minutes, you draw your 
breath hard, and then settle down into a dull, 
uneasy stupor, conscious of nothing except a 
weight tightening around your temples like a 
band of molten iron. That is the only guest- 
chamber, save a parlor in the rear, the ordinary 
withdrawing -room and nursery of the family, 
where you take your meals in an atmosphere 
impregnated with babies and their concomitants. 
The fare is not so bad, after all, and monotony 
does not prevent chicken and ham fixings from 
being very acceptable after a long, fasting ride. It 
blew a gale that night from the northwest, and the 
savage wind — laden with sheets of snow — hurled 
itself against eaves and gable till the crazy tene- 
ment quivered from roof-tree to foundation beams. 
I went to my unquiet rest early, chiefly to avoid 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 137 

an importunate reveler in the bar-room, who 
" wished to put to the stranger a few small ques- 
tions," troublesome to answer, that I had not 
patience to evade. 

It was high noon on the following day when I 
set forth again. The snow had ceased to fall two 
hours before, but I wished to give it time to settle ; 
besides, any tracks would greatly help me over 
the rough cross-country road I had to travel. My 
route-bill enjoined me to call at a certain house 
where the lane turned off from the highway, to 
obtain further instructions. These were duly 
given me by the farmer, an elderly man, with a 
wild, gray beard, vague, red eyes, and a stumbling 
incoherence of speech. He repeatedly professed 
himself *' pure and clear as the dew of Heaven." 
These characteristics applied probably to his prin- 
ciples — patriotic or private ; they certainly did 
not to his directions, which led me two miles 
astray, before I had ridden twice that distance ; 
no trifling error, when you had to struggle back 
over steep, broken ground, through drifts fully 
girth deep. 

However, as evening closed in, I " made " Acci- 
dent — the point where I ought to have found 
Shipley. He was a very good guide — when you 
caught him — but such a perfect ig?iisfatuus, when 
once out of sight, that I was not at all surprised at 
hearing he had gone on, the night before, to a farm- 



138 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

house — more safe and secluded, certainly — about 
sixteen miles off. My informant offered to pilot 
me thither so soon as it should be thoroughly dark. 
This oifer I accepted at once, only hoping that 
Falcon would, like myself, consider it " all in the 
day's work." 

I shall never forget my halt at Accident, if only 
on account of the martyrdom I endured at the 
hands of some small, pale boys, children of the 
house wherein I abode. I had j ust settled myself to 
smoke a meditative pipe before supper, when they 
came in, with a formidable air of business about 
all the three ; they drew up a little bench, exactly 
opposite to my rocking-chair, fixing themselves, 
and me, into a deliberate stare. Every now and 
then the spokes-boy of the party — he was the 
oldest, evidently, but his face was smaller and 
whiter, and his eyes were more like little black 
beads than those of either of his brethren — would 
fire off a point-blank pistol-shot of a question ; 
when this was answered or evaded, they resumed 
their steady stare. I was lapsing rapidly into a 
helpless imbecility under the horrible fascination, 
when their mother summoned me to supper ; they 
vanished then, with a derisive chuckle, to which 
they were certainly entitled : for they had utterly 
discomfited the stranger within their gates. 

One more long night-ride over steep, broken 
forest-ground — enlivened by certain ultra-marine 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 139 

reminiscences of my guide, who had been a sort of 
land-buccaneer in California — brought us to the 
farm, far in the bosom of the hills, where I found 
Shipley, buried in a deep sleep. The sole intelli- 
gence I heard that night related to the roan : the 
enfeebled constitution of that unlucky animal had 
given way under rough travel and wild weather ; 
he was reported to be dying ; hearing w^hich, I 
could scarcely deny him great good sense, however 
I might lament his lack of endurance. 

"The sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep," 
applies, of course, to horses as well as hard- worked 
men. 

My new host was a thorough specimen of the 
upland yeoman — half hunter, half farmer, and all 
over a cattle-dealer. Deer and bears still abound 
in those hills, though the latter are not so plentiful 

as they were a score of years back, when B 

and his father slew thirty-three in a singte season : 
in one conflict he lost two fingers, from his hunt- 
ing-knife slipping while he was locked in the death- 
grapple. 

The next morning broke wild and stormy, but 
the good man rode out on the scout, to see how 
the land lay round Oakland ; while he was absent 
we talked over our plans, and looked over his cattle 
to find a remount for my guide. The roan's malady 
had not been exaggerated ; he was indeed in a 
miserable plight, suffering, I thought, from acute 



140 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

internal inflammation. After dinner we had some 
very pretty rifle practice, at short distances, with 
a huge, clumsy weapon. I saw a boy of sixteen 
put five consecutive bullets into the circumference 
of a half-crown at seventy-five yards. 

Late in the afternoon our host returned, and we 
came to terms for rather a neat four-year-old filly : 
neither her condition nor strength was equal to 
the work before her; but Shipley thought that, 
nursing, she would carry him through ; and once 
in Secessia, my interest in the purchase would 
cease. The roan was, of course, left behind, to be 
killed or cured. His chances of life seemed then 
so faint (though the hill-farmers are no mean far- 
riers) that I thought he was fairly valued in the 
deal at thirty dollars. It appeared that there was 
increase of vigilance throughout the frontier-guard : 
in Oakland itself a full company was stationed, 
and strong pickets were thrown out all around, 

but B felt confident he could pilot us through 

these. 

We started soon after nightfall, in the midst 
of a sharp sleet-storm, but we dared not delay to 
give the weather time to clear, for a domiciliary 
visit from the Federals was by no means improb- 
able. The old hunter had not boasted too much 
of his local knowledge. He led on, through wind- 
ing byways and forest paths — sometimes striking 
straight across the clearings — till the lights of 



FALLEN ACROSS THE HRESHOLD. 141 

Oakland glimmered in our rear, and the cordon of 
pickets was threaded ; nor did he leave us till we 
had reached a point whence a straight track — 
well known to Shipley — would bring us down on 
the north branch of tho Potomac. Thencefor- 
ward, my guide and I rode on alone : the moon 
shone out, broad and bright, in a cloudless sky, 
as we climbed the wooded spurs that lie as out- 
works before the main range of the Alleghanies ; 
the silvery transparent shimmer of the frost-work 
on the feathery for-sprays, was one of the most 
remarkable effects of reflected light that I can re- 
member. The snow was- more than fetlock-deep 
where it lay level, and the filly tired fearfully 
towards morning. She could not walk near up 
to Falcon's long, even stride. I had to halt per- 
petually, to wait for my companion ; but in the 
tenth weary hour we sighted the crazy bridge 
that spans the North Branch, and by four, A. M., 
on Good Friday, our steeds 

Might graze at ease 
Beyond the broad Borysthenes. 

Rock, and wood, and water, were all looking 
their best, under a brilliant sun, when I rose, but 
the object on which I gazed with most satisfac- 
tion, was the accursed river circumvented at last. 
The solitary green thmgs I could find actually on 
the bank, were some sprigs of cypress : these I 



142 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

gathered with due formula of lustration ; but the 
ahsit omen was spoken in vain. 

Then I wrote two or three letters, inclosing in 
each the cypress, token ot partial success ; but 
these never reached their dosUuations : they were 
prudently suppressed, three days later, by the 
person to whose discretion I trusted to forward 
them. My correspondence being cleared off, and 
Falcon thoroughly groomed, I fell back upon the 
resources of the little town for amusement, and 
lighted on one scrap of light literature, the frag- 
ment of a nameless magazine. In this there were 
some good, quiet verses, that I thought worth 
transcribing, were it only for the incongruity of 
the place in which I found them : perhaps they 
are already well known ; but I am ignorant even 
of the author's name. 

MAUD. 

Yes, she always loved the sea, 

God's half uttered mystery ; 

With the murmur of its myriad shells, 

And never-ceasing roar : 
It was well, that when she died, 
They made Maud a grave heside 
The blue pulses of the tide, 

'Neath the crags of Elsinore. 

One chill red leaf falling down — 
Many russet autumns gone ; 
A lone ship with folded wings 
Lay sleeping off the lea : 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 143 

Silently she came by night, 
Folded wings of murky white, 
Weary with their lengthened flight ; 
Way-worn nursling of the sea. 

Eager peasants thronged the sands ; 
There were tears and clasping hands ; 
But one sailor, heeding none, 

Passed thro' the churchyard-gate : 
Only " Maud," the headstone read, — 
, Only Maud, was't all it said ? 
Why did he then bow his head, 

Moaning, '* Late, mine own, too late !" 

And they called her cold — God knows, 
Under quiet winter's snows, 
The invisible hearts of flowers 

Grow up to blossoming : 
And the hearts judged calm and cold, 
Might, if all their tale were told, 
Seem cast in a gentler mould. 

Full of love and life and spring. 

We were in the saddle again an hour before sun- 
set, our next point being a log-hut on the very 
topmost ridge of the Alleghanies, wherein dwelt 
a man said to be better acquainted than any other 
in the country round, with the passes leading into 
the Shenandoah Valley. We ascertained, beyond 
a doubt, that a company was stationed at Green- 
land Gap, close to which it was absolutely neces- 
sary we should pass ; but with a thoroughly good 
local guide, we might fairly count on the same 
luck which had brought us safe round Oakland. 



144 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

Night had fallen long before we came down on 
the South Kiver, a mere mountain torrent, at or- 
dinary seasons ; but now, flowing along with the 
broad dignity of a swift, smooth river. My guide's 
mare wanted shoeing, and there chanced to be a 
rude forge close to the ford, which is the only 
crossing-place since the bridge was destroyed last 
autumn by the Confederates. It was important 
that the local pilot should be secured as soon as 
possible (he was constantly absent from home), so 
I rode on alone, with directions that were easy to 
follow. 

The smith, whose house stood but three hun- 
dred yards or so oif, had told me that I had to 
strike straight across the ford, for a gap in the 
dense wood cloaked by the opposite bank. It was 
disagreeably dark at the water's edge, for the low 
moon was utterly hidden behind a thicket of cy- 
press and pine ; but I did make out a narrow 
opening exactly opposite ; for this I headed unhes- 
itatingly. We lost footing twice ; but a mass of 
tangled timber above broke the current — nowhere 
very strong — and the water shoaled quickly under 
the further shore ; the bottom was sound, too, just 
there, though the bank was steep ; and Falcon an- 
swered a sharp drive of the spurs with a gallant 
spring, that landed him on a narrow shelf of 
slippery clay, hedged in on three sides by brush 
absolutely impenetrable. There was not room to 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 145 

stand firm, much less to turn safely ; before I had 
time to think what was to be done, there was a 
backward slide, and a flounder ; in two seconds 
more, I had drawn myself with some difficulty 
from under my horse, who lay still on his side, too 
wise, at first, to struggle unavailingly. If long 
hunting experience makes a man personally rather 
indifferent about accidents, it also teaches him 
when there is danger to the animal he rides ; look- 
ing at Falcon's utter helplessness and the constrain- 
ed twist of his hind legs, which I tried in vain to 
straighten, I began to have uncomfortable visions of 
ricked backs and strained sinews : I was on the 
wrong side of the river, too, for help ; though 
even the rope of a Dublin G-arrison " wrecker " 
would have helped but little then. Thrice the 
good horse made a desperate attempt to stand up, 
and thrice he sank back again with the hoarse 
sigh, between pant and groan — half breathless, 
half despairing — that every hunting man can re- 
member, to his cost. It was impossible to clear 
the saddle-bags without cutting them ; I had drawn 
my knife for this purpose, when a fourth struggle 
(in which his fore-hoofs twice nearly struck me 
down), set Falcon once more on his feet — tremb- 
ling, and drenched with sweat, but materially un- 
injured. I contrived to scramble into the saddle, 
and we plunged into the ford again, heading up 
stream, till we struck the real gap, which was at 
7 



146 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

least thirty yards higher up. It is ill trusting to 
the accuracy of a native's carte du pays. Another 
league brought me to the way-side hut where I 
was instructed to ask for fresh guidance. 

*' Eight over the big pasture, to the bars at the 
corner — then keep the track through the wood to 
the * improvements ' — and the house was close by." 
Such were the directions of the good-natured 
mountaineer, who offered himself to accompany 
me : but this I would by no means allow. 

Now, an up-country pasture, freshly cleared, is 
a most unpleasant place to cross, after night-fall : 
the stumps are all left standing, and felled trees lie 
all about — thick as boulders on a Dartmoor hill- 
side ; then, however, a steady moon was shining, 
and Falcon picked his way daintily through the 
timber, hopping lightly, now and then, over a 
trunk bigger than the rest, but never losing the 
faint track : we got over the high bars, too, safely, 
hitting them hard. The wood-path led out upon 
a clearing, after a while : here I was fairly puzzled. 
There was no sign of human habitation, except a 
rough hut, some hundred yards to my right, that 
I took to be an outlying cattle-shed : there was 
not the glimmer of a light anywhere. 

I have not yet written the name of the man I 
was seeking : contrasts of time and place made it so 
very remarkable, that I venture to break the rule 
of anonyms. Mortimer Nevil — who would have 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 147 

dreamt of lighting on, perhaps, the two proudest 
patronymics of baronial England, in a log hut 
crowning the ridge of the Alleghanies ? 

While I wandered hither and thither in utter 
bewilderment; my ear caught a sound as of one 
hewing timber ; I rode for it, and soon found that 
the hovel I had passed thrice was the desired 
homestead ; truly, it was fitting that the possible 
descendant of the king-maker should reveal him- 
self by the rattle of his axe. 

It is needless to say, that I was received cour- 
teously and kindly. The mountaineer promised 
his services readily ; albeit, he spoke by no means 
confidently of our chances of getting through ; 
the company of Western Virginians that had re- 
cently marched into Greenland, was said to be 
unusually vigilant ; only the week before, a pro- 
fessional blockade-runner had been captured, who 
had made his way backwards and forwards re- 
peatedly, and was thoroughly conversant with the 
ground. The attempt could not possibly be made 
till the following evening ; till then, Nevil prom- 
ised to do his best to make Falcon and me com- 
fortable. 

I shall not easily forget my night in the log 
hut ; it consisted of a single room, about sixteen 
feet by ten ; in this lived and slept the entire 
family — numbering the farmer, his wife, mother, 
and two children. When they spoke, confidently, 



148 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

of finding me a bed, I fell into a great tremor and 
perplexity ; the problem seemed to me not more 
easy to solve than that of the ferryman, who had 
to carry over a fox, a goose, and a cabbage ; it 
was physically impossible that the large-limbed 
Nevil and myself should be packed into the narrow 
non-nuptial couch ; the only practicable arrange- 
ment involved my sharing its pillow with the two 
infants or with the ancient dame ; and at the bare 
thought of either alternative, I shivered from 
head to heel. At lagt, with infinite difficulty, I 
obtained permission to sleep on my horse-rug 
spread on the floor, with my saddle for a bolster ; 
when this point was once settled, I spent the eve- 
ning very contentedly, basking in the blaze of the 
hugh oaken logs ; if stinted in all else, the moun- 
taineer has alway large luxury of fuel. I was 
curious to find out if my host knew anything of 
his own lineage ; but he could tell me nothing 
further, than that his grandfather was the first 
colonist of the family ; oddly enough, though, in 
his library of three or four books, was an ancient 
work on heraldry ; his father had been much 
addicted to studying this, and was said to have 
been learned in the science. 

At about ten, P.M., Shipley knocked at the door, 
fearfully wet and cold ; the smith had accom- 
panied him to the ford, so that he could not go 
astray, but his filly hardly struggled through the 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 149 

deep, strong water. Our host found quarters for 
him, in the log hut of a brother, who dwelt a 
short half-mile off. 

I spent all the fore-part of the next day in loung- 
ing about, watching the sluggish sap drain out of 
the sugar-maples, occasionally falling back on the 
female society of the place ; for the Nevil had 
gone forth on the scout. It was not very lively : 
my hostess was kindness itself, but the worn, 
weary look never was off her homely face ; nor 
did I wonder at this when I heard that, besides 
their present troubles and hardships, they had lost 
four children in one week of the past winter from 
diphtheria ; it was sad to see how painfully the 
mother clung to the two that death had left her ; 
she could not bear them out of her sight for an 
instant. A very weird-looking cummer was the 
grand-dame — with a broken, piping voice — 
tremulous hands, and jaws that, like the stage 
witch wife's, ever munched and mumbled. She 
seldom spoke aloud, except to groan out a start- 
lingly sudden ejaculation of " Oh, Lord," or "O 
dear ;" these widows' mites cast into the conversa- 
tional treasury did not greatly enhance its bril- 
liancy. 

The blue sky grew murky-white before sun- 
down, and night fell intensely cold. The Nevil 
who guided us on foot had much the best of it, 
and I often dismounted, to walk by his side. If he 



150 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

f 

who sang the praises of the " wild northwester" 
had been with us then, I doubt if he would not 
have abated of his enthusiasm. The bitter snow- 
laden blast, even where thick cover broke its 
vicious sweep, was enough to make the blood 
stand still in the veins of the veriest Viking. After 
riding about ten miles, we left the rough paths we 
had hitherto pursued, and struck across country. 
For two hours or more we forced our way slowly 
and painfully through busli and brake — through 
marshy rills and rocky burns — demolishing snake- 
fences whenever we broke out on a clearing. 
Shipley led his mare almost the whole way ; and 
I, thinking the saddle safest and pleasantest con- 
veyance over ordinarily rough ground, was com- 
pelled to dismount repeatedly. 

It was about one o'clock in the morning of Sun- 
day, the 5th of April : we were then crossing 
some tilled lands, intersected by frequent narrow, 
belts of woodland. Our course ran parallel to the 
mountain-road leading from Greenland to Peters- 
burg ; the former place was then nearly three 
miles behind us, and our guide felt certain that 
we had passed the outermost pickets. It was 
very important that we should get housed before 
break of day ; so we were on the point of 
breaking into the beaten track again, and had 
approached it within fifty yards, when suddenly, 
out of the dark hollow on our left, there came a 
hoarse shout : 



FALLEN ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. 151 

" Stop. Who are you ? Stop or I'll fire." 
Now I have heard a challenge or two in my 
time, and felt certain at once that even a Federal 
picket would have employed a more regular form- 
ula. The same idea struck Shipley too. 

" Come on," he said, " they're only citizens." 
So on we went, disregarding a second and third 
summons in the same words. We both looked 
round for the Nevil, but keener eyes would have 
sought for him in vain ; at the first sound of voices 
he had plunged into the dark woods above us, 
where a footman, knowing the country, might 
defy any pursuit. Peace and joy go with him ! 
By remaining he would only have ruined himself, 
without profiting us one jot. 

Then three revolver-shots were fired in rapid 
succession. To my question if he was hit, my 
guide answered cheerily in the negative ; neither 
of us guessed that one bullet had struck his 
mare high up in the neck ; though the wound 
proved mortal the next day, it was scarcely per- 
ceptible, and bled altogether internally. One of 
those belts of woodland crossed our track about two 
hundred yards ahead ; we crashed into this over a 
gap in the snake-fence ; but the bamer on the fur- 
ther side was high and intact. Shipley had dis- 
mounted, and had nearly made a breach by pulling 
down the rails, when the irregular challenge was 
repeated directly in our front, and we made out a 



152 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

group of three dark figures about thirty-five yards 
off. 

" Give your names, and where you are going, or 
ril fire." 

" He's very fond of firing," I said in an under- 
tone to Shipley, and then spoke out aloud. (I 
saw at once the utter impossibility of escape, even 
if we could have found our way back, without 
quitting our horses, which I never dreamt of.) 

" If you'll come here, I'll tell you all about it." 

I could not have advanced if I had wished it ; 
in broad day the fence would have been barely 
practicable. I spoke those exact words in a tone 
purposely measured and calm, so that they should 
not be mistaken by our assailants : I have good 
reason to remember them, for they were the last I 
ever uttered on American ground as a free agent. 
They had hardly passed my lips, when a rifle 
cracked ; I felt a dull numbing blow inside my 
left knee, and a sensation as if hot sealing-wax 
was trickling there ; at the same instant, Falcon 
dropped under me — ^without a start or struggle, 
or sound besides a horribl-e choking sob — shot right 
through the j ugular vein. 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 153 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 



Before I had struggled clear of my horse, Ship- 
ley's hand was on my shoulder, and his hurried 
whisper in my ear. 

" What shall we do ? Will you surrender ?" 

Now, though I knew already that I had escaped 
with a flesh-wound from a spent bullet, I felt that 
I could not hope to make quick tracks that night. 
Certain reasons — wholly independent of personal 
convenience — made me loth to part with my 
saddle-bags ; besides this, I own I shrank from the 
useless ignominy of being hunted down like a wild 
beast on the mountains. So I answered, rather 
impatiently : 

" What the deuce would you have one do — with 
a dead horse and a lamed leg ? Shift for yourself 
as well as you can." 

Without another word I walked towards the 
party in our front, with an impulse I cannot now 
define ; it could scarcely have been seriously ag- 
gressive, for a hunting-knife was my solitary wea- 
pon ; but for one moment I was idiot enough to 

regret my lost revolver. I was traveling as a 

7-» 



154 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

neutral and civilian, with no other object than my 
private ends; the slaughter of an American citizen, 
on his own ground, would have been simply mur- 
der, both by moral and martial law, and I heard 
afterwards that our Legation could not have inter- 
fered to prevent condign punishment. But reason 
is dumb sometimes, when the instincts of the "old 
Adam" are speaking. I suppose I am not more 
truculent than my fellows ; but since then, in all 
calmness and sincerity, I have thanked God for 
sparing me one strong temptation. 

Before I had advanced ten paces the sam"e voice 
challenged again. 

" Stop where you are — if you come a step nearer, 
I'll shoot." 

I was in no mood to listen to argument, much 
less to an absurd threat. 

'* You may shoot and be d — d," I said. *' You've 
got the shooting all your own way to-night. I 
carry no fire-arms," — and walked on. 

Now, I record these words — conscious that they 
were thoroughly discreditable to the speaker — 
simply because I mentioned them in my examina- 
tion before the Judge Advocate (after he had in- 
sisted on the point of verbal accuracy), and from 
his office emanated a paragraph, copied into all the 
Washington journals, stating that I had cursed my 
captors fluently. I affirm, on my honor, that this 
was the solitary imprecation that escaped me from 
first to last. 



THE KOAD TO AVERXUS. 155 

So I kept on advancing : they did not fire, and I 
don't suppose they would have done so, even if 
they had had time to reload. I soon got near 
enough to discern that among the three men there 
was not a trace of uniform ; they were evidently 
farmers, and roughly dressed *'at that." So I 
opened parley in no gentle terms, requiring their 
authority for what they had done, and promising 
that they should answer it, if there was such a 
thing as law in these parts. 

*' Well, if we ain't soldiers," the chief speaker 
said, " we're Home Guards, and that's the same 
thing here ; we've as much authority as we want 
to back us out. Why didn't you stop, and tell 
us who you are, and where you're going ?" 

By this time I was cool enough to reflect, and 
act with a purpose. For my own, as well as for 
his sake, I was most anxious that Shipley should 
escape. I knew they would not find a scrap of 
compromising paper on me ; but he w^as a perfect 
post-carrier of dangerous documents, and a marked 
man besides — altogether a suspicious companion 
for an innocent traveler. So I began to discuss 
several points with my captors in a much calmer 
tone — demonstrating that from the irregularity of 
their challenge we could not suppose it came from 
any regular picket — that there were many horse- 
thieves and marauders about, so that it behoved 
travelers to be cautious — that it would have been 



156 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

impossible to have explained oi^r names, object, 
and destination in a breath, even if th^y had 
given more time for such reply : finally, making 
a virtue of necessity, I consented to accompany 
ihem to the regular out-post of Grreenland, stipu- 
lating that I should have a horse to carry me and 
my saddle-bags ; for my knee was still bleeding, 
and stiffening fast. 

All this debate took ten minutes at least, dur- 
ing which time my captors seemed to have for- 
gotten my companion's existence, though they 
must have seen his figure cross the open ground 
when they first fired. Long before we got back 
to the horses, Shipley had "vamosed" into the 
mountain, carrying his light luggage with him; 
only some blank envelopes were lying about, 
evidently dropped in the hurry of removal. 

I knelt down by Falcon's side, and lifted his 
head out of the dark red pool in which it lay. 
Even in the dim light I could see the broad, bright 
eye glazing: the death -pang came very soon ; he 
was too weak to struggle ; but a quick, convulsive 
shiver ran through all the lower limbs, and, with 
a sickening hoarse gurgle in fclie throat, the last 
breath was drawn. 

My good, stout, patient horse ! Few and evil 
were the days of his pilgrimage with me ; but we 
had begun to know and like each other well. I 
cannot remember to have borne a heavier hear^ 



I 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 157 

than when I turned away from his corpse, half 
shrouded in a winding-sheet of drifting snow- 
flakes — seeing nothing certain in my own future, 
save frustrated projects and exhausted resources. 

I threw my saddle-bags across Shipley's saddle, 
and rode slowly down, three miles, into Greenland. 
The filly's head drooped wearily, as she faltered on 
through the half-frozen mud and water; but no 
one guessed, till daylight broke, that she had then 
got her death-wound. 

When we reached the hovel that was the head- 
quarters of the detachment, only two or three 
soldiers were lounging around the fire ; but the 
news of a capture roused most of the sleepers, 
and the low, dim room was soon filled, suffocating- 
ly, with a squalid crowd, in and out of uniform : 
prominent, in the midst, stood the long, lank, 
half-dressed figure of the lieutenant in command. 
Neither he nor his men were absolutely un- 
courteous, when they once recognized that I was 
not a Confederate spy, or a professional blockade- 
runner; but they were exultant, of course, and 
disposed to indulge in a rough jocularity, during 
the necessary inspection of my person and bag- 
gage. 

The surgeon was a coarse edition of Maurice 
Quill ; when he had examined my knee, and 
dressed it — not unskillfully — (the conical point of 
" the Sharp's" bullet had just reached the bone), he 



158 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

took great interest in the search of my saddle- 
bags ; desiring to be informed of the precise cost 
of each article. When I declined to satisfy him, 
he became exceedingly witty — not to say sarcas- 
tic. 

" Here's a mighty curious sort of a traveler, 
boys ; as don't know what nothing costs that be- 
longs to him, nor how he come by it," &c. 

Now I was getting tired, and bored with the 
whole business, and stifled with the close atmos- 
phere — laden with every graveolent horror ; be- 
sides, I had not escaped from London " chaff" and 
Parisian persiflage, to be mocked by a wild Vir- 
ginian. So I said, quite gravely : 

*' It's very simple; but I don't wonder it puzzles 
you. You have to pay, when you buy, out here, I 
daresay. I haven't paid for anything for twenty 
years. But, if I had known I was going to meet 
you, before I came away I would have — looked at 
the bills." 

Perhaps my face did not look like jesting ; any- 
how, he took every word for earnest, and remained 
silent for some time ; ruminating, I suppose, on 
the grand simplicity of such a system of com- 
merce. 

This occupied their attention for a considerable 
time ; when a party did start in pursuit of my 
companion, under the guidance of Dolley — the 
man who had fired the last fatal shot — I reflected, 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 159 

with some satisfaction, that the fugitive had a long 
two hours' " law." The guard-room cleared gra- 
dually ; and, before daybreak, I got some brief, 
broken rest — supine on the narrowest of benches, 
with my crossed arms for a pillow. 

In spite of wound, and weariness, and discom- 
fiture, I have spent a drearier time than the morn- 
ing of that same Sunday. After the first awk- 
ward feeling had passed off, my captors showed 
themselves civil, and almost friendly, after their 
fashion. They were very like big school-boys — 
those honest Volunteers — prone to rough jokes 
and rude horse-play among themselves, which the 
commanding officer not only sanctioned, but per- 
sonally mingled with : good-fellowship reigned 
supreme, to the utter subversion of dignity and 
discipline. 

There were some lithe, active figures among 
them, well fitted for the long forced marches for 
which both the Northern and Southern infantry is 
renowned ; and two or three raw-boned giants, 
topping six feet by some inches ; but not one 
powerful or athletic frame : in many trials of 
strength, in wrist and arm, I did not come across 
one formidable muscle. 

About three o'clock — the weather had become 
bright and almost warm before noon — I was loung- 
ing about on the bank of the trout-stream that ran 
past the door, with my guard at my shoulder, 



160 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

when I saw a group of several figures approach- 
ing. When they came nearer, one man lifted his 
cap on his bayonet's point, and the others shouted. 
I could not catch the words ; but I guessed the 
truth : they had run down Shipley, after all. He 
was so utterly exhausted, both in mind and body, 
when first brought in, that he could hardly speak: 
he was not of a hardy constitution, and he had 
undergone fatigue enough — to say nothing of the 
fearful weather — to have broken down a more 
practiced pedestrian. Dolley's party were not the 
actual captors, though they were hard on the fugi- 
tive's trail ; another squad, sent to search for some 
Confederates supposed to be hidden in the neigh- 
borhood, had come upon some tracks in the snow, 
leading to a farm-house, and there discovered my 
unhappy guide, sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. 
This was twelve miles from the spot where we 
parted, and he had struggled on till strength 
would carry him no further. 

The lieutenant's face grew longer than Nature 
had left it, as he perused, one after another, the 
documents found on Shipley. Though his de- 
meanar towards myself remained quite amicable, 
it was clear that he judged me, to a certain extent, 
by my associations ; and his simple joviality was 
somewhat clouded by an uneasy sense of responsi- 
bility. Nevertheless, the evening passed quickly 
enough round the guard-room fire ; the men sang 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 161 

some simple chants, and the deep, rough voices 
sounded not unmusically. Once more, I preferred 
a single plank to the nameless abominations of the 
bunks, above and below stairs ; and consequently 
awoke with aching bones, but flesh intact. 

The next morning we bade farewell to the 
Greenland detachment, in no unkindness. I was 
really sorry when I read in the papers, a month 
later, of their capture by Imboden's division, after 
an obstinate defense in the church, which was 
burned over their heads before the survivors would 
surrender. 

New Creek, the headquarters of Colonel Mulli- 
gan's brigade, was our destination. We had a 
sufficient escort, and besides, the valiant Dolley 
accompanied us, in the character of chief witness, 
as well as chief captor. His '^ get up" was very 
remarkable, consisting of a pair of brown overalls, 
an old blue uniform coat, about three sizes too 
small for him, and the very tallest black hat, that, 
as I think, I ever beheld. Slight as my wound 
was, it had quite crippled me for the time ; a 
farmer, however, for a moderate consideration, 
found me a pony that saved my legs, at much 
peril to its own : for it stumbled miraculously 
often. Shipley began by walking, but was glad 
to avail himself of a chance animal half way. 
Dolley and two of his friends were mounted ; the 
soldiers kept pace with us gallantly on foot. 



162 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

When we -started, I bore no sort of malice to 
that same Dolley ; but, before we had got through 
the twenty-three miles that brought us to New 
Creek, I hated him intensely, as one hates the 
man — friend or foe — that bores you to death's 
door. That he should be puffed up with vain- 
glory, was neither unlikely nor unreasonable. 
His own shots were the only ones he had ever 
seen fired in anger. It was natural, too, that he 
should over-estimate the importance of his capture ; 
he had suffered from the war, in purse, if not in 
person, and had lost two sons in the Northern 
army from disease, one of whom had been 
imprisoned for six months by the Confederates. 
After his first excitement had passed away, he bore 
himself not unkindly towards me ; though, at 
Greenland, he did greatly bewail the darkness that 
had caused him to take a costly life instead of a 
worthless one ; Falcon would have fetched five 
hundred dollars in those parts ; even at my own 
Valuation, I could not have been appraised so 
highly. So I listened to him twice or thrice with 
great patience, while he told how well he had 
deserved of his country ; but, when he persisted in 
repeating the same tale, not only to me, but to 
every creature he encountered, the iteration became 
simply " damnable." He spoke of his dead sons in 
the same pompous tones of self-exultation with 
which he reckoned all other items standing to the 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 163 

credit side of his patriotism. Fortunately for my 
equanimity, I was not present when he told his 
own tale at New Creek ; it must have been a 
grand romance of history. 

Yet my poor Dolley made a bad night's work 
of it after all. His three days' fame in local papers 
cost him dear. Immediately on getting out of 
prison, I heard — not without a savage satisfaction — 
that Imboden's horsemen had harried his home- 
stead thoroughly in their last raid ; Dolley only 
saving his life by " running like a hare. " The 
Southerners know everything that goes on near 
their lines, and are wonderfully regular in settling 
scores with any registered debtor. 

At New Creek I was confronted with Colonel 
Mulligan. His attire was anything but military ; 
black overalls crammed into high butcher boots, 
a G-aribaldi shirt of the brightest emerald green ; 
but his bearing was unmistakably that of a soldier 
and gentleman. He treated me with the utmost 
courtesy. I also met with no small kindness from 
the adjutant of the artillery corps, an old Crimean. 
Unluckily, Colonel Mulligan could not deal with 
my case, so, after a brief examination, and liberal 
refreshment, Shipley and myself were forwarded 
by rail to Wheeling, two hundred miles further 
west, where the district Provost Marshal was 
stationed. 

We reached Wheeling in the early morning. 



164 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

and there were indulged with a most welcome 
bath and breakfast. Soon afterwards we stood in 
the presence of the Provost Marshal, Major Darr. 

The figure of this functionary certainly resem- 
bles, in its square obesity, that of the great 
Emperor in his latter days. Possibly for this 
reason, Major Darr affects a Napoleonic curtness 
and decision of speech. Nevertheless, he was 
amenable to reason, and on my agreeing to pay 
the expenses of an escort, consented to forward 
me to Baltimore, to be identified. Shipley was 
committed at once to the military prison. 

It was a long, weary journey of twenty-three 
hours, and I was so harassed by want of sleep, 
that I scarcely appreciated some really fine scenery 
on the Laurel and Chestnut ranges. We reached 
Baltimore about three, A. M., and I dispatched two 
notes immediately, one to the British Consul, 
another to my most intimate acquaintance in the 
city. 

Both came down without delay, proffering all 
possible assistance. I had a regular levee before 
my guards conveyed me to the office of the Chief 
of Gen. Schenck's staff, to whose mercies I was con- 
signed. Colonel Cheesebrough was civil enough ; 
but, in his turn, professed himself unable to deal 
with my case, and referred it to the General. 
Caesar was Lot less dilatory than Felix. I never 
saw the potentate before whose nod Baltimore 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 165 

trembles (he was unwell, I believe, or unusually- 
sulky), but I underwent a lengthened interrogatory 
at the mouth of a very young and girlish-looking 
aide-de-camp. In the midst of this, rather an absurd 
incident occurred. General Schenck's headquar- 
ters are at the Eutaw House. The fair daughter 
of a house at which I had been very intimate — 
was to be married that same day, and at that same 
house the bridegroom's party were staying. Sud- 
denly, through an opening door, two or three of 
these my friends debouched upon the scene. They 
had not heard one word of my misadventures, so 
that they were naturally rather surprised at find- 
ing me there, in such company. I really think 
that the sympathy lavished upon me in that brief 
interview was not so refreshing as the palpable 
discomfort of the unhappy aide, under a galling 
glance-fire maintained by Southern eyes, not 
careful to dissemble their hatred and scorn. 

I was so perfectly used to being hallotte by this 
time, that it did not in anywise surprise me, to 
hear that I was to be sent down to Washington 
to be examined by the Judge-Advocate-General. 
There was so much delay in making out commit- 
ment papers that we lost the afternoon train. 
No other started before eight, P.M., so that; by the 
time we reached "Washington, all offices would 
have been closed, and we must have spent the 
night in the Central Guard-house. I had heard 



166 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

enough of the foul abominations of that refuge for 
the imprisoned destitute, to make me determined 
never to cross the threshold unless under actual 
coercion. I said as much to the cavalry sergeant 
who had me in charge ; suggesting that, by taking 
the four A.M. train on the following morning, we 
should arrive hours before the Provost Marshal's 
or Judge Advocate's offices were open. He was 
civilly rational about the whole question, and, on 
my parole not to attempt escape, readily consented 
to accompany me to a house, where I was more 
at home than anywhere else in Baltimore. There 
I remained till long after midnight : though none 
of us were in the best of spirits or tempers, that 
brief return to social life was an indescribable rest 
and restorative. I mention this unimportant 
incident chiefly because one of the charges 
brought against me afterwards was founded on 
" my having bribed my escort, and spent the 
whole night at the house of a notorious Secession- 
ist." The poor sergeant was reduced to the 
ranks for dereliction of duty ; and I the more 
regret this, because his good-nature was not 
mercenary. 

We reached Washington about six, A. M. No 
offices were open before nine. I employed the 
interval, partly in breakfasting with what appetite 
I might, partly in a visit to Percy Anderson, 
whose slumbers I was compelled to break by the 



THE EOAD TO AVERNUS. 167 

most disagreeable of all morning apparitions — a 
friend in trouble. I could only just stay long 
enough to receive condolences, and promises of 
all possible assistance — private or diplomatic ; 
then I betook myself to the Provost Marshal's 
office, which I did not enter ; thence to that of 
the Judge- Advocate-General. 

I look back upon that interview with feelings 
of unmitigated self-contempt. I confess to have 
been utterly deluded by that sleek official's sham 
honhommie ; so that when he prayed me to be 
frank and explicit — " Anything that you say, I 
shall receive with perfect confidence," &c., &c., — 
I did strive, to the best of my powers, to forget 
no important incident or word relative to my 
conduct since I landed in America ; only 
making reservations where confession might 
implicate others. An artless boy might easily 
have been gulled by the portly presence, the 
unctuous voice, and eyes that twinkled merrily 
through gold-rimmed glasses; but no man of 
mature age can remember such a gross mistake 
without a hot flush of shame. 

I have little cause to love the Federal Govern- 
ment ; but I bear no grudge against any individual 
Unionist with the solitary exception of the Judge- 
Advocate, simply because to him alone can I trace 
deliberately unfair dealing and intentional discour- 
tesy. While I was in prison I sent hhn two 



168 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

letters, at long intervals ; though I again commit- 
ted a gross error, in addressing him as one gentle- 
man would write to another, I cannot think this 
wholly excuses his coolly ignoring both communi- 
cations. On the 21st of May, Major Turner's 
duty brought him to Carroll place, and he re- 
mained there two full hours : the superintendent, 
who had conferred with the prison surgeon on the 
state of my health, pressed him strongly to see 
me. The Judge- Advocate refused, on the ground 
that the case was already decided, and would be 
settled in a day or so, at furthest ; that same after- 
noon he departed on a fortnight's leave, knowing 
right well that no steps could be taken in the 
matter till his return. Officials are justified, I 
suppose, in avoiding all waste of time or trouble ; 
perhaps it was more simple to lie to a subordinate 
than to risk the short discussion that an interview 
would have involved. I cannot guess at the especial 
reason which caused me to be honored by Major 
Turner's enmity ; certain it is that he was not 
neutral or indifferent with regard to my case, but 
exerted himself very successfully to thwart any 
measures tending to its decision or adjustment. 

During the latter days of my imprisonment, I 
indulged more than once in a day-dream, not the 
less pleasant because it is wildly improbable. 
Should the changes and chances of this mortal life 
ever bring me face to face with that jovial Judge, 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 169 

on any neutral ground, by my faith and honor I 
will say in his ear five short words not hard to 
understand. On the steps of Carroll place, when 
the door opened to set me free, I sent Major 
Turner a message much to this effect. I devoutly 
hope it was delivered wnth the "verbal accuracy" 
of which he is so remarkabl}^ fond. 

At the conclusion of the long examination, the 
Judge-Advocate left me for a short time to obtain 
instructions — possibly a warrant — from Secretary 
Stanton ; on his return he told me that nothing 
could be decided until Shipley's case had been in- 
quired into ; he assured me that the latter should 
be telegraphed for at once from Wheeling ; and 
so, with the pleasantest of smiles, and a jest on 
his lips^ handed me over to Colonel Baker, who 
w^as already in waiting. This official's overt 
functions are those of a District Provost Mar- 
shal — in reality, he is the Chief of Secret Police. 
There are legions of stories abroad, imputing to 
him the grossest oppression and venality ; even 
strong Unionists shake their heads disparagingly, 
at the mention of his name. 

But of Colonel Baker, from my own knowl- 
edge, I can say nothing ; I simply passed through 
his office to the Old Capitol ; nor do I know that 
he in anywise influenced my after fortunes. 

It appeared that my quarters were to be, not in 
the main building of the prison, but in a sort of 
8 



170 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

dependdnce, a couple of hundred yards off, called 
Carroll place ; thither I was at once removed, 
after a brief consultation with the officer on guard. 

Mr. Wood, the head Superintendent, soon came 
to welcome the new arrival, and in his first sen- 
tence gave me a specimen of the hrusquerie of 
address for which he has acquired a certain noto- 
riety. 

" Mr. ," he said, " Pm always glad to see 

your countrymen here. My father was an Eng- 
lishman ; but I've no sympathy with England. I 
was born and bred a plebeian, sir." 

As I felt no particular interest in Mr. Wood's 
proclivities or proletarianism, I simply shrugged 
my shoulders, and turned away without a reply. 
But when, on his first visit to my room, two days 
later, he repeated exactly the same formula, with- 
out variation of a syllable, I thought it better to 
assure him that the iteration was absolutely unne- 
cessary, inasmuch as I had believed him on hoth 
points easily from the first. He was not at all dis- 
concerted or offended, only we heard him mutter 
to his subordinate, when they got outside our 
door : 

" That's a pretty d — d high-handed sort of a 
chap, anyhow." 

After half an hour's waiting, I was conducted 
to a room on the third story, No. 20, and in a few 
minutes experienced that great rarity of a *' fresh 



THE ROAD TO AVERNUS. 171 

sensation," finding myself — for the very first time 
in my life — fairly under lock and key. 

I had been so '* harried" of late, that I felt a 
certain relief in being settled somewhere. The rest 
of the afternoon and evening was spent in making 
acquaintance with the Baltimorean blockade-run^ 
ner, my room-mate, and in exchanging dreary 
prison civilities with the cells either side, through 
little tunnels pierced in the wall by former pris- 
oners, which allowed passage to anything of a cali- 
bre not exceeding that of a rolled newspaper. A 
deep, narrow trough, ingeniously excavated in a 
pine-splinter, enabled us to pledge each other in 
mutual libations, devoted to our better luck and 
speedy release. The neighbors, with whom I 
chiefly held commune, were an Episcopal clergy- 
man and a captain in the Confederate army. Of 
these, more hereafter. I breathed more freely 
when the temporary absence of my room-mate, 
for exercise, left me alone — for the first time since 
my capture — with my saddle-bags They had 
been in Northern custody for four days, and sub- 
jected to the severest scrutiny : nevertheless, they 
still held certain documents that I was right glad 
to see vanish in the red heat of a fierce log fire. 



172 BORDER AND BASTILLE, 



CHAPTER IX. 



CAGED BIRDS. 



The miserable first-waking — dreariest of all 
hours that follow a great loss or disaster — came 
late to me. I had gone through a certain amount 
of knocking-about — mental and bodily — in the 
last week ; and, for eight nights, the nearest 
approach to a bed had been the extempore couch 
of a railway-car. So, on an unhappy emaciated 
palliasse, covered by a dusty horse-rug (it took me 
four days to weary the jailer into a concession of 
sheets), I slept, all noises notwithstanding, far into 
my first prison-day. It was provokingly brilliant 
and warm ; indeed I must, in justice to the Wea- 
ther Office, allow, that its benignancy has scarcely 
been interrupted, since I ceased to care whetlier 
skies were foul or fair. My recollections of that 
first day are rather vague ; but my impression is, 
that I had a good deal to think about, and did not 
in the least know how to begin. I paced up and 
down, as long as my knee would allow ; it was 
still stiff and painful, though healing fast. In a 
room twelve feet by eight, you square the circle 
much too often for pleasure ; but it was a week 



CAGED BIRDS. 173 

before I had any other exercise. Then, I believe, 
I made some attempts to improve the acquaintance 
of my room-mate. 

He was not sullen, but, at first, somewhat satur- 
nine and silent. The fact was that, for many days, 
he had been fasting from the luxuries dearest to 
every American heart — whisky and tobacco ; for 
all money and clothes had been taken from him at 
the Provost Marshal's office, and never were re- 
turned : in these respects, after my arrival, he fared 
sumptuously, by comparison, and abated greatly 
of his discontent. I might have been much more 
unfortunate in my companion. He was not con- 
versational, certainly, nor very amusing in any 
way ; but he was cunning in all the small crafts of 
captivity, and kept our chamber swept and gar- 
nished to the best of his power. The way in 
which dust accumulated and renewed itself within 
those narrow limits, was little short of miraculous ; 
you might brush till you were weary, and ten 
minutes afterwards things would look as though 
brooms had never been. Twining ropes out of 
sea sand, or any other of the tasks with which 
wizarcls have baffled fiends, were not more helpless 
than that on which my comrade busied himself 
each morning. The wood fire could not account 
for it ; the nuisance increased when it became too 
warm to light anything but candles ; so it must 
remain another of the physical puzzles concerning 



174 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

which we are perpetually wondering, where it 
all comes from, and are never likely to be satisfied. 

Mr. C seemed by no means sanguine as to 

his own prospects, and took an early opportunity 
of advising me not to buoy myself up with hopes 
of speedy release. I can say, truly, that from the 
very first I did not so delude myself. Some of my 
Baltimore friends would fain have persuaded me 
that, in the utter absence of criminating evidence, 
I should not be detained long ; I forbore to argue, 
but my opinion remained always the same. 
I had heard how tenacious was the grasp of 
Federal officials, unless loosened by more golden 
oil than I could then command. I had heard, 
too, how slowly aid or intercession from the 
free outer world could penetrate these mock- 
bastilles, and how reluctantly the authorities would 
grant the supreme favor of a hearing, or trial, to 
any whose condemnation was not sure. So I was 
prepared to resign myself to anything short of a 
month's incarceration ; but even thus, I under- 
estimated the hospitable urgency of my amiable 
entertainers. 

The return-wing of the main building in which 
we were confined, is occupied exclusively by the 
prisoners committed under a Secretary's warrant. 
These are much more closely guarded than the 
other inmates ; but they have the advantage of 
being divided off into pairs, or threes at most, in 



CAGED BIRDS. 175 

their rooms, and their comforts are certainly better 
attended to. The regulations anent food and 
liquors are liberal enough ; you can obtain almost 
anything by paying about twice its cost ; but the 
privilege of having meals sent in, is not lightly 
valued by those who have once done battle with 
the boiled leather, called ration beef, contests in 
which passive resistance generally prevails. 

The barred window of Xo. 20 looks out on the 
narrow yard wherein ordinary captives are allowed 
to disport themselves for three half-hours daily. 
It is a very motley crowd. There are no Confed- 
erate soldiers here ; all these are confined in the 
Old Capitol ; but of every other class you may see 
specimens. 

I will try one or two sketches. It used to 
amuse me to guess at the profession of a captive 
from outward signs, and, after a little practice, 
one is rarely wrong. 

Those three, talking together apart, and gesticu- 
lating so vehemently, with the Hebrew stamp on 
every line of their dark, keen faces, are blockade- 
runners : they bewail their captivity more loudly 
than their fellows ; but, be sure, they will wriggle 
out, soonest of all, if freedom can be j)urchased by 
hard swearing or gold. The profits of a single 
successful venture are simply fabulous ; the smug- 
glers are frequently captured with dollars on their 
persons by tens of thousands : they will part read- 



176 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

ily with a share of the plunder to any accommo- 
dating official, sooner than lose valuable time here ; 
and, as for the oath, they swallow it without a 
pretense at reluctance. 

That group, with wild beards and long un- 
kempt hair, clad in rough garments of every 
shade, from "butternut" to hodden gray, come 
evidently from the far uplands of Virginia. Look- 
ing af; those rough-hewn faces and fierce eyes, you 
can easily believe that such men are not careful 
to dissemble their sympathies, and would not 
lightly forget an injury ; the chastisement of this 
paternal Government will change sullen disaffec- 
tion into savage animosity : they will all be sent 
South in time, and " it's a free fight there." I 
fancy one or two of those yeomen will see the 
color of Yankee blood, before they see the old 
homestead again. 

That pale Judas face, with scanty, hircine 
beard, and an expression changing often from 
spiteful to cunning, could belong only to a Yankee 
paymaster or commissary, detected in his frauds 
before he had made up a pile high enough to 
defy justice; for a swindler is not qiiite safe till 
he is nearly a " milliner." (So, was my comrade 
wont to pronounce millionaire.) Such cases oc- 
cur daily, and the unity of shabbiness here is 
always diversified by some trim criminals in dark 
blue. Putting apparel aside, these accessions do 



CAGED BIRDS. 177 

not seem greatly to improve the respectability of 
the life below-stairs. 

There is a very tall man, who generally man- 
ages to take his exercise at a different hour from 
the common herd : when he does mix with them, 
his well-cut clothes and spotless linen make 
a strange contrast with the squalor round 
him. He seems perfectly contented with his pre- 
sent lot ; he is always humming snatches of song, 
or chanting right lustily ; he speaks loud and free- 
ly with the few to whose converse he conde- 
scends ; and there is a gay recklessness about his 
whole bearing almost too ostentatious to be natu- 
ral. Before long you notice one peculiarity. 
Speaking or listening — sitting or standing — walk- 
ing or resting — his long, white, lissom fingers 
are never still ; they cannot handle the common- 
est object without betraying a swift, subdued 
dexterity. Look closer yet, and all his glib, 
sham-soldier talk will not deceive you. That gal- 
lant belongs to a great army, whose spoils — ^if 
not bloodless — must be won with knife and pistol, 
instead of rifle and sabre ; to an order whose 
squires are often knighted with no gentle accolade — 
an order, the date of whose foundation neither 
herald nor historian knows, but which must last 
while Christendom shall endure — the Unholy 
Order of Industry. 

The professional gamblers, here, far outnumber 
8» 



178 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

the turfites of England, and they apply themselves 
to their business from early youth with far more 
exclusive pertinacity. The richest field for their 
talent is barren, now that the highroad of the 
Mississsppi is closed ; but still in every city of im- 
portance, North or South, he who would " fight 
the tiger," need not wander far without discover- 
ing his den. In Richmond, especially, the play 
never was so desperate and deep. It is unneces- 
sary to say towards which side the sympathies 
and interests of the mercurial guild tend. The 
cunning Yankee was ever too prudent to risk 
much of his hard-earned gold on the chance of a 
card, fairly or unfairly turned : it is only the 
planter, on whom wealth flows in while he sleeps, 
that tempts Fortune with a daring, near which 
the recklessness of the Regency seems cautious 
and tame. 

It is not strange that the captive knight should 
accept his present position so cheerfully. Here, 
he enjoys every luxury that money can buy, and 
whithersoever he may be consigned, he is sure to 
fall on his feet ; for it matters little to those cos- 
mopolites on what spot of earth their vagrant tents 
are pitched. Neither is he of the stuff* that is 
likely indefinitely to be detained : even this jealous 
Government need not fear to let such an enemy go 
free. My comrade — not innocent or unmindful 
of past losses at faro — contemplating the gay 



CAGED BIRDS. 179 

cavalier 'with no loving glance, growls out, 
"They won't bother themselves v^ith that rubbish 
long." 

There is another figure, quite picturesquely- 
repulsive, wliich will attract you more than if it 
were pleasant to look upon. A man, exceedirgly 
old, stout, and lame, with red, savage eyes, and a 
scowl that never lightens or breaks : it would be 
an equine injustice to compare his head to a 
horse's ; that of many a thoroughbred measures less 
in superficial inches. Clearly, a storekeeper from 
some remote village, where he has battened on 
the necessities of his neighbors for years, till he 
has got bloated like an ancient spider in its web. 
He hobbles up and down, never interchanging a 
word with his fellows, but unceasingly mumbling 
his huge toothless jaws : they say he never mutters 
anything but curses ; if so, his daily expense in 
blasphemy is something fearful to contemplate. I 
think that cleanliness is as foreign to that horrible 
old creature's soul as godliness : he never shows a 
vestige of linen, and I am certain he sleeps in that 
rusty coat of bluish gray, and in that squalid 
cravat-rope, never untwisted since it was first 
donned. His offense must surely have been com- 
merce, active and profitable, with Rebeldom, for 
he never can have sympathized with any living 
thing. 

One more picture, to close the list. I ought 



180 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

to know that figure, long and lanky, but sinewy 
withal, though the head, under the fur cap, is 
averted still. 

Mock me not, for otherwhere, than along the greenwood fair, 
Have I ridden fast with thee. 

He turns now — I knew I was right — ^it is my 
cheery host of the White Grounds, who led us so 
gallantly through brake, and brook, and snow- 
drift, when the Federal dragoons followed hard 
on our trail : a broad light of recognition spreads 
over all his honest face as he waves a stealthy 
salute, and I straightway go through the pan- 
tomime of drinking to his health and quick de- 
liverance. 

Women of all classes are confined here ; but 
beauty alone beams on the prison-yard from the 
windows of its cell. At this moment of writing, 
I hear voices from a room immediately below me ; 
fair, the speakers possibly may be, but — -judging 
from the fitful scraps of conversation that rise 
hither — they are assuredly very frail. 

I think one of the most exasperating circum- 
stances of this house of bondage, is the exceeding 
flimsiness of its defenses. Part of the inclosure of 
both yards consists of tall, thin boarding, full of 
cracks and crevices, that might be breached with 
no extraordinary exertion of foot or shoulder; and 
there is hardly any part of the stronghold out of 



CAGED BIRDS. 181 

which a man, of average ingenuity, armed with a 
common clasp-knife — if unwatched — could not 
make his way in a couple of hours. But, un- 
watched you never are. The passages are not 
more than thirty feet long, and there is a sentinel 
in each who can hear almost every sound from 
within. A State prisoner never stirs beyond his 
room, without an armed guard at his shoulder. 

I soon heard that my reverend neighbor on the 
right contemplated evasion, and, considering his 
opportunities, I rather wondered at finding him 
here. In every cell there is a small closet, corre- 
sponding with those on the floor above and below. 
In this especial one the ceiling had fallen away, or 
been removed by some former prisoner ; nothing 
but plain boards intercepted a passage to the un- 
occupied attic-story, where dormer windows 
opened on to the shingle roof. But, with all this, 
it took the parson a full month to make up his 
mind and preparations. I often communed with 
him through the tunnel aforesaid, and he amused 
me not a little sometimes. 

He looked at all things through a magnifying 
glass of about eighteen power. I know that he 
was perfectly honest in the delusion of consider- 
ing himself one of the most important State 
prisoners that had ever been confined here. He 
would have it that half Maryland was in mourning 
for him, and ready with ransom of untold gold, but 



^ 



182 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

was certain that the Government would never 
venture to set him free while the war should last. 
Upon the oath of allegiance being proposed to 
him, instead of simply declining, he defied the 
Judge to do his worst, expressing his readiness to 
confront either gallows or platoon. The risk of 
either was about equal to that of his being tortured 
at the stake, on the steps of the Capitol. In spite of 
all this simple vanity, and flightiness of brain, you 
could see that the parson had good strong princi- 
ples, and held to them fast ; and I believe that his 
nervous excitability would not have deterred him 
from encountering real danger. He appeared 
thoroughly courteous, generous, and good-natured ; 
and my companion, to whose regiment he had 
been chaplain, told me that nothing could exceed 
his considerate kindness to the soldiers. 

Albeit afflicted by occasional fits of depression, 
the reverend, as a rule, talked very cheerily ; but, 
ah ! me, how sorrowfully he would sing ! There 
was one psalm — penitential I presume — of about 
twenty-two verses, an especial favorite. This was 
probably, the most soul-depressing melody that has 
been chanted since the days of The Captivity. 
The mournful tone bore you down irresistibly ; 
Mark Tapley would have subsided into melan- 
choly gloom, before the slow versicles were half 
dragged through. But the parson was not the only 
musical culprit, nor the worse, by many degrees. 



CAGED BIRDS. 183 

It would be absurd to expect much cheerfulness 
here ; a hoarse roar breaks out now and then at 
some coarse practical joke; but a frank, honest 
laugh — never. Yet I do wish that imprisoned dis- 
content would vent itself otherwise than in dis- 
cordant, dismal howling. At this minute a cracked 
voice is droning out, 

A little more cider ; 

it might be a Sioux chanting his death-song. 

How w^ell I remember, in what " stately home 
of England " I first listened to that pleasant ditty. 
I hear, now, the leader's rich, round tones, and I 
see quite plainly the fair faces of the youths and 
virgins that made up the choir. Basta ! it don't 
bear thinking about. If mine enemy were any- 
where but round the corner, I would try if his 
music would stand a volley of orange-shot. 

For three days or so, I could scarcely take up a 
paper without seeing my own unlucky name 
paraded in one or more paragraphs. As they all 
varied, it was somewhat remarkable that, in all 
alike, facts should have been so absurdly distorted. 
They were not content with drawing my own 
fancy portrait — imagine, if you please, the cari- 
cature — but they built a little romance about poor 
Falcon's assassin, giving him credit for much suf- 
fering for his country's sake, particularly for long 
imprisonment at Richmond, since which time he 
had devoted himself as an Avenger. I was grati- 



184 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

fied to observe that his name was seldom, if ever, 
correctly spelt. I did think of sending a contra- 
dictory note to one of the local journals, but de- 
cided against wasting ink and paper. Besides, it 
is a pity to abase oneself unnecessarily. " I ain't 
proud, 'cos its sinful," nor over careful with whom 
I try a fall ; but I confess a preference for more 
creditable antagonists than American penny-a- 
liners. So, I let them — lie. 

On the fourth evening of my imprisonment, 
there was an unusual stir in the buildina: soon 
after nightfall. Intercourse between the different 
rooms is prevented as much as possible, but the 
channels of covert communication are many, and 
not easily cut off. In ten minutes every one was 
aware that the iron-clads which were to annihi- 
late Charleston had recoiled, beaten and wounded. 
My mate rejoiced greatly after his saturnine 
fashion, and I — the fullness of listlessness being 
not yet — felt a brief glow of satisfaction. Others 
were more demonstrative. Loud came the paean 
of the warlike priest through our mural speaking- 
trumpet ; while the sturdy soldier on the left, 
after hearing the news, and taking a trough-full 
of " old rye," expressed himself " good for two 
months more of gaol." Some one at a lower 
window began to sing, softly at first, the National 
Anthem of the South ; then voice after voice 
joined in, in spite of sentinels' warnings, till the 



CAGED BIRDS. 185 

full volume of the defiant chorus rolled out, ring- 
ingly : 

"Hurrah ! hurrah ! for Southern rights, hurrah ! 
One cheer more for the bonnie blue flag 
That carries a Single Star. 

On the whole, I think that Sunday evening 
passed more rapidly than any that I can chronicle 
here. 

The newspapers, for the next few days, were 
rather amusing. The well-practiced Republican 
apologists exhausted their ingenuity in endeavor- 
ing to explain away the reverse. It was an experi- 
ment — a reconnoissance on a large scale — anything 
you please but a repulse. But the facts hemmed 
them in remorselessly ; at last, in their despera- 
tion, they fell fiercely, not only on their Demo- 
cratic opponents, but on each other. 

The truth is, that the failure of the iron-clads 
was so complete, that it ought to furnish some 
useful hints for the future. With the exception 
of the Keokuk, whose construction differed slightly 
from that of her fellows, none were sunk or fairly 
riddled with shot ; but scarcely one went out of 
that shai-p, brief battle efficiently offensive. The 
starting of bolts might easily be remedied, but it 
is clear that the revolving machinery of the tur- 
rets is far too delicate and vulnerable ; and that 
these are liable to become *' jammed " by a chance 
shot at any moment. This objection is the more 



186 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

serious, when you consider how miserably these 
vessels seem to steer. Almost all were more or 
less " sulky " as soon as they felt the strong tide- 
way, and the huge Ironsides lay a helpless, useless 
log, half an hour after going into action. Neither 
do they appear to be very formidable offensively. 
No reliable evidence proves Fort Sumter to have 
suffered material damage ; yet the attacking force 
spent their strength exclusively on one of its sides 
and angles, and there was nothing to prevent their 
pouring in a concentric fire on any weakened 
point or possible breach. 

But a stranger soon ceases to be surprised at 
any trick or eccentricity of the American Press. 
The common courtesies and proprieties of the 
Fourth Estate are utterly ignored in the noisy 
Batrachomachia ; the first step in editorial train- 
ing here must be to trample on self-respect, as 
the renegade used to trample on the cross. Not 
only do the leading articles teem with coarse per- 
sonal abuse of political opponents, but a rival 
journalist is often freely stigmatized by name ; his 
antecedents are viciously dissected, and the back- 
slidings of his great-gran dsire paraded triumph- 
antly ; though this is an extreme case, for such 
an authenticated ancestor seldom helps or hampers 
the class of which I speak. A year of such igno- 
ble brawling must surely be sufficient to annihilate 
more moral dignity than most of these small 
Thunderers can pretend to start with. 



CAGED BIRDS. 187 

One is prepared for anything after seeing whole 
columns of journals, boasting no small metropoli- 
tan and provincial renown, filled by those revolting 
advertisements, that the lowest of our own penny 
papers only accept under protest. 

Upon one point, certainly, all agree — constant 
distrust and depreciation of England ; and, all 
things considered, I know no one spot on God's 
earth, where the hackneyed old line can be quoted 
so complacently by a Britisher : 

Sibilat populu8, mihi plaudo. 

It would be unfair, not to give the American 
Press credit for great energy and ability in collect- 
ing intelligence from the different seats of war. 
Considering the vast surface over which military 
operations extend, and the immense distances that 
often lie between the scene of action and the place 
of publication, it is really wonderful to see how 
copiously the New York journals contrive to min- 
ister to their readers' curiosity. The *' Herald," 
in particular, has one or more correspondents 
wherever a single brigade is stationed, and accord- 
ing to their own accounts — which there is no 
reason to doubt — they frequently accompany the 
troops till actually under fire. All agents of the 
Press with the army of the Potomac are now 
obliged to sign their communications with their 
real name. This general order is of course intended 



18S BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

to check the freedom of criticism, which has of 
late become rather too plain-spoken to be agreea- 
ble to the irascible Chief. But it is difficult to 
gag an undaunted " special ; " so every morning 
the last intelligence streams forth — fresh, strong, 
and rather coarsely flavored — like new whisky 
from a still. 

The sobriety of the weekly journals contrasts 
refreshingly with the license of their diurnal breth- 
ren. Sporting papers are nearly the same all the 
world over ; but, in the rest of these placid period- 
icals, there is little of violence or virulence to be 
found. They are enthusiastic about the war, of 
course, and occasionally querulous about the Cop- 
perheads ; but they never quarrel among them- 
selves, and are seldom thoroughly savage with 
any one or anything. They generally contain a 
chapter or two borrowed, with or without permis- 
sion, from some English story in progress — 
*' Eleanor's Victory " is the favorite now — the rest 
of the non-illustrated pages are filled with the 
very mildest little tales that, I think, ever were 
penned. 

These simple romancers in nowise resemble the 
vitriolic melo-dramatists — scarcely caricatured by 
Punch in " Mokeanna," — who try to drug, in de- 
fault of intoxicating their audience ; the liquor 
they proffer in their pretty flimsy cups, if not 
exciting, is far from deleterious ; not unfrequently 



CAGED BIRDS. 189 

3'ou catch glimpses of an under-current of honest 
pathos, soon smothered by garish flowers of lan- 
guage ; and sometimes the style sparkles into mild 
effervescence, redeeming itself from utter vapidity ; 
these ephemerals, indeed, belong rather to the 
lemonade than the milk-and-water class ; but, 
throughout, there is a woeful want of vei've and 
virility. 

It was inexpressibly refreshing, after loitering 
through twenty such pages, to revert to the 
" History of the Crimean War :" the curt, nervous 
periods were a powerful mental tonic ; and few of 
his many readers owe so practical a debt to Mr. 
Kinglake as the writer of these words. 



190 BOKDEli AND BASTILLE. 



CHAPTER X. 



DARK DAYS. 



So — heavier with each link — the chain of days 
dragged on. My room mate soon thawed into a 
stolid sociability, and was quite disposed to be 
communicative ; but his narrative riches about 
matched those of the knife-grinder, and his military 
experience of one year only embraced one battle — 
that of Manassas. His ideas of English society 
were very remarkable. The works of Mr. G. W. 
M. Reynolds are much' favored, it appears, by the 
class who believe in Mr. George F. Train's veracity 
and eloquence ; from these turbid fountains mine 
honest friend's conceptions were drawn. I took 
some trouble to undeceive him, and partially suc- 
ceeded, chiefly by insisting upon the fact that — :of 
all living writers — the ingenious author of the 
" Mysteries of Everything " was probably the man 
least qualified, by personal experience, to discourse 
concerning the manners and customs of the upper, 
or even the educated, classes. Slowly and reluct- 
antly, the Baltimorean abandoned his cherished 
idral of the British aristocrat — a covert Caligula, 
with all modern improvements — varying the 



DARK DAYS. 191 

monotony of orgies with interludes of murder and 
rapine ; the instrument of these pleasant vices 
being always ready in the shape of a Frankenstein- 
monster, whose mission it is to tyrannize perpetu- 
ally over the guilty lordling or lady whose secret 
he holds ; doing a steady trade of two assassinations 
or abductions weekly ; and utterly inviolable by 
cord, shot, or steel, up to the final blue-fire tableau 
of the dreary drama. I believe that my mate is 
now prepared to admit, that a certain amount of 
piety and chastity is not incompatible with tenure 
of the highest dignities in the Anglican Church — 
that a youth need not necessarily be a savage 
Sybarite, because he happens to be heir to a duke- 
dom — that matronly virtue may, with a struggle, 
be retained even by a Countess — and that a man 
may possibly be a kindly landlord, and even an 
honest farmer himself (thaj was the orowmng 
triumph), though born a belced Earl 

On the fourth day, I bethought myself of teach- 
ing my companion piquet (no purely transatlan- 
tic game is in the least interesting, if the stakes 
are nominal) ; he acquired it with the ready apti- 
tude that seems natural to Americans, and I soon 
had to drop the odds of the deal. We j)layed 
many hundred iiarties for imaginary eagles ; evei.t- 
ually I got a run, and left off a good winner, 
which, as my opponent had not money enough to 
buy tobacco, was highly satisfactory to every one 
concerned. 



192 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

After a week's confinement to my room, I was 
allowed to take half an hour's exercise daily in a 
narrow strip of yard just twenty-one paces long; 
it was hedged iti with kitchens and all sorts of dis- 
agreeable buildings, but the additional space was 
not to be despised. On the first evening after this 
concession, I was pacing up and down moodily 
(only inmates of the same room are allowed to de- 
scend together, so that you gain no social advan- 
tage), when just over my head, from a window on 
the first story, there broke out a burst of merri- 
ment, and a half-intelligible trill of baby-language; 
then a little round pink face, under a cloud of fair 
hair, peered out at me through the bars. The 
utter incongruity of the whole picture struck me 
so absurdly, that, I believe, I did indulge in a 
dreary laugh. Then the child began to talk again ; 
and clapped its hands exultingly, as its mother 
caught an orange I threw up at her, when the sen- 
tinel's back was turned. So a sort of acquaintance 
began. Every day for a month, I saw that pro- 
mising two-year-old (to whose sex I cannot speak 
with certainty) ; and I never heard it fretting or 
wailing. Whenever it saw me, it used to break 
out into a real uproarious laugh, as if our common 
imprisonment was the very best joke that had 
ever been presented to its infantile mind. I am 
ashamed to avow, that my own sense of the ridi- 
culous was by no means so keen. The mother 



DARK DAYS. 193 

evidently pined far more than the baby ; for her 
face grew, every day, more white and worn. What 
was the offense of either against the Government, 
I never heard ; for no official or soldier will answer 
any question, and discourse between the prisoners 
is strictly forbidden. They went South, in the 
great exodus of the 20th of May. I contrived on 
that morning, with much cunning, to cast in six 
or seven oranges at their window, which, I hope, 
solaced those two Gentle Traytours through the 
burden and heat of the day. 

Till I got too sulky and savage to seek unne- 
cessary intercourse with any one, I found occa- 
sional amusement in chaffing the sentinels. The 
orders against conversation with these were not 
rigidly enforced. Finding that they rose very 
freel}^ to the bait of a strained ironical politeness, 
I used to beg them to tell off" by sections, the 
victims of their red risfht hands — chickens and 
ducks not being counted ; also, I was fain to learn, 
how many rebel standards and pieces of cannon 
each man had captured and retaiiged ? If they 
took no credit for any such feats, I would by no 
means believe them, imputing the denial solely to 
the modesty inseparable from true courage. 

Descending into the yard, one day, I found the 
sentry — an overgrown lad, with broad, crimson, 
beardless cheeks — in a perfect paroxysm of excite- 
ment, using great freedom of gesticulation and 
9 



194 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

blasphemy. I had had imrnense success in be- 
wildering this particular warrior a few days pre- 
viously : so I went up to him at once : 

*' My blood-stained veteran,"" I said, " what has 
raised your apoplectic valor ?" 

I think he was rather ashamed at being caught ; 
but he grumbled out, sulkily rough, something 

about — " If they don't keep their heads in, 

they '11 get more than they ask for." I followed 
the direction of his eyes, and there, on the third 
story, sat two of the quietest-looking middle-aged 
women I ever beheld. They were evidently new 
arrivals, and had not heard of the injunctions 
against putting heads out windows: for they 
were staring down in blank astonishment, uncon- 
scious that the blatant threats were leveled at 
them. Now, the ingenious juggler who packed 
himself into a bottle, might possibly have suc- 
ceeded in infringing the aforesaid rule : no other 
human being could have got his cranium through 
the bars. I suspect, it was simply an outbreak 
of the plethoric sentry's irrational ferocity (he had 
been sweltering under a burning sun for two 
hours) on the first helpless ob'ect that came across 
him ; for I could not make "out that the women 
had answered or aggravated him. I addressed to 
my friend many compliments on his prowess — 
trusting that his soldierly zeal would be appre- 
ciated in higher quarters. Nevertheless, I presumed 



DARK DAYS. 195 

to suggest that it would have been wiser to have 
begun with the baby : if he could frighten that 
into fits, his rapid promotion must have been 
insured. I believed that Brigadier T urchin would 
soon want an aide, and who knows ? &c. 

In a few "minutes he waxed frightfully wroth ; 
but he had already broken the non-conversation 
orders, and I would not allow him to fall back 
upon these now. At last he retreated to a part 
of his beat where I could not follow him, and 
there growled and ground his teeth till my time 
was up. The corporal who was my immediate 
guard tried to excuse his comrade, hinting that 
*' he wasn't quite right in the head." Possibly 
this may have been one of his " off-days." The 
jest of that afternoon w^as turned into bloody 
earnest before three weeks had passed. 

Not long after this I had a pleasanter incident 
to chronicle. As I entered the yard one day, my 
guard remarked with a broad grin: " Somethin' 
new up there, Colonel." 

The indiscriminate appropriation of militaiy 
titles here, is, of course, proverbial, though com- 
mon prudence made me very careful not to claim 
a fictitious rank, after leaving Baltimore, where 
I was w^ell known. I got a brevet-step with 
almost every change of place or association ; dis- 
claimers were never listened to. 

Through the bars of a second story window 



196 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

that fronted each turn of my tramp, I saw — this 
A slisfht fi2:ure in the freshest summer toilette of 
cool pink muslin ; close braids of dark hair shad- 
ing clear pale cheeks ; eyes that were made to 
sparkle, though the look in them then was very 
sad, and the languid bowing down of the small 
head told of something worse than weariness. 

Truly, a pretty picture, though framed in such 
rude setting, but almost as startling, at first, as 
the apparition of the fair witch in the forest to 
Christ abelle. Slightly in the background stood 
a mature dame — the mother, evidently. No need 
to ask what their crime had been ; aid and abet- 
ment of the South suggested itself before you 
detected the ensign of her faith that the demoiselle 
still wore undauntedly — a pearl solitaire, fashioned 
as a single star. I may not deny that my gloomy 
*' constitutional " seemed, thenceforward, a shade 
or two less dreary ; but, though community of 
suffering does much abridge ceremony, it was 
some days before I interchanged with the fair 
captives any sign beyond the mechanical lifting 
of my cap when I entered and left their presence, 
duly acknowledged from above. One evening I 
chanced to be loitering almost under their win- 
dow ; a low, significant cough made me look up ; 
I saw the flash of a gold bracelet and the wave of 
a white hand, and there fell at my feet a fragrant 
pearly rosebud nesthng in fresh green leaves. 



DARK DAYS. 197 

lly thanks were, perforce, confined to a gesture 
and a dozen hurried words, but I would the prison 
beauty could believe that fair Jane Beaufort's 
rose was not more prized than hers, though the 
first was a love token granted to a king, the last 
only a graceful gift to an unlucky stranger. I 
suppose that most men, whose past is not utterly 
barren of romance, are weak enough to keep some 
withered flowers till they have lived memory 
down, and I pretend not to be wiser than my 
fellows. Other fragrant messengers followed in 
their season, but, if ever I " win hame to mine 
ain countrie," I make mine avow to enshrine that 
first rosebud in my reliquaire, with all honor and 
solemnity, there to abide till one of us shall be 
dust. 

I heard from Lord Lyons about once a week. 
Though my letters were always answered most 
promptly, the replies never reached me within 
eight days. All correspondence, going or coming, 
passes the inspection of the Provost Marshal and 
the Superintendent, and letters are forwarded and 
delivered — sooner or later — the whole thing resolv- 
ing itself into a question of official memory or 
convenience^ I did not doubt from the first, that 
no intercession, that could properly be exercised, 
would be spared. If repeated applications and 
strong representations could have availed, I should 
have been free long ago. But many autocrats 



198 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

might take a lesson from the insolent indifference 
of this Administration, when an argument or a 
request is to be set aside ; it is exactly in propor- 
tion to the pliancy they display when confronted 
with demands enforced by a substantial threat. 
Lord Lyons' reputation for courtesy and kindness 
of heart stands too high to need any testimony of 
mine ; but I cannot forbear here expressing my 
sense of his good offices, and I am not the less 
grateful, because these words are written on the 
fifty-sixth day of imprisonment. 

To one member of the Legation, I am indebted 
for far more than official benevolence. On the 
second day after my committal, Percy Anderson 
brought up himself to the Old Capitol, a pack- 
age containing cigars, books, newspapers, &c., 
which, he was told, would be transmitted to 
me '* right away." I trust that the contents 
satisfied the critical tastes of the officer on guard ; 
for from his clutches no fragment emerged. I 
never even heard of the kind intention, till weeks 
had passed ; and, of many papers afterwards for- 
warded by the same hands, only one packet 
reached me. 

All this time, my reverend neighbor was pressing 
on in earnest his preparations for escape. His 
room-mate was a young Marylander, who had 
served some time on the staff* of the Confederate 
army ; he was captured at his own home, whither 



DARK DAYS. 199 

he had returned for a hurried visit, and was now 
detained as a "spy;" this vague and niarvelously 
elastic charge is always laid, when it is desirable 
to exclude a prisoner from the conditions of 
exchange. The plan of evasion was very simple. 
After passing through the floor into the attic, and 
thence out through the dormer-window, they had 
to crawl over about eighty feet of shingle-roof — 
not slippery at all, nor particularly steep — along 
the ridge, except where they had to descend a little 
to circumvent the chimney-stacks ; this brought 
them to another dormer, giving admission to a 
house in the same block of building, but not con- 
nected with the prison. The parson believed this 
to be uninhabited ; and the event proved either 
that he was right, or that the inmates were friendly. 
After several false starts, they decided on making 
the attempt on the 1st of May. 

In the twenty-four hours preceding, the reve- 
rend's excitable' nerves had been wound up to 
something above concert pitch. He seemed to 
hold the real risk — discovery and the bullet of a 
sentinel — very cheap ; but, magnifying imaginary 
difficulties after his own peculiar fashion, he had 
come to look upon the roof as a pass of peril, only 
to be accomplished by preterhuman agility and 
steadiness of brain. His fellow-adventurer, who 
from first to last bore himself with a gay reckless- 
ness good to behold, laughed all such forebodings 



200 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

utterly to scorn. I tried the gentler tone of grave 
argument, demonstrating that a glissade on shingles 
in dry weather was next to impossible, and that 
the ridge, once gained, was nearly as safe traveling 
as an ordinary mountain-path. The parson's ar- 
mor of meek obstinacy was proof alike to reason 
and ridicule ; he waxed not wroth, and was thank- 
ful for any suggestion ; but, when asked to act 
accordingly, ever fell back on one plaintive for- 
mula — " I am no gymnast," — after the fashion of 
that exasperating child who met all the Poet's 
questions and objections with the refrain of 

Master, we are seven. 

These visionary terrors would have been of little 
moment, if they had not induced his reverence to 
persist in the use of certain machines, which were 
more than likely to bring the whole adventure to 
grief. These were a sort of sandals, studded with 
sharp nails, that could be fitted either to hands or 
feet, and no words can describe the proud satisfac- 
tion with which they were regarded by their 
simple-minded constructor. Though I saw it vras 
almost useless, I tried hard to persuade him that, 
for any sort of climbing (where neither ice nor 
sharp edges were to be feared), no engines could 
be so safe as bare feet and hands ; that it would 
be much harder to recover himself, if a slip ensued 
from any strap giving way ; finally, that if the con- 
trivance answered perfectly in every other way. 



DARK DAYS. 201 

there was certain risk of what was most to be 
avoided — sharp, sudden noises, likely to strike 
strangely on the sentinel's ear. My friend heard 
me out quite patiently, thanked me very cordially, 
and then — took his own way. 

Everything was ready by midnight ; but the start 
was not made till three, A. M., at which hour the 
moon was quite down. We could talk but little, 
as it was especially impoitant not to arouse any 
suspicion among the sentries ; as far as I could 
make out, the adventurers employed the interval 
very wisely, in taking in supplies of both creature 
and spiritual comforts, dividing their attention 
about equally between supper and devotional ex- 
ercises. At last the moment came, and they bade 
us farewell ; the good parson bestowing upon my 
unworthy self a really pathetic benediction If 
my own " God-speed " was less solemn, I know it 
was not less sincere. Then I went to bed, and as 
another twenty minutes passed without my hearing 
a sound, I began to think the fugitives were well 
away. I was just dropping off to sleep, when I 
heard voices in the yard speaking loud and hastily, 
though I could not catch the words. Then there 
was a scuffle of feet above, and a scrambling fall 
beyond the right hand wall. After a few minutes 
silence, quick steps came along the passage, and 
the door of Xo. 22 was opened. The \4sitors soon 

went away ; but we did not know what watch 
9* 



202 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

might be set, so essayed no communication with 
our unlucky neighbor till the morning was far 
advanced. The adventure had miscarried in this 
wise. 

When they mounted into the empty attic they 
found the window invitingly open, and, after wait- 
ing a few minutes to humor the moon, the soldier 
volunteered to reconnoiter. He reached the ridge 
without the slightest difficulty, and crawled along 
till he could see his way clear to the window 
they wished to attain. Then he returned undis- 
covered and reported progress. Now the first mis- 
take was making a reconnoissance at all : vestigia 
7iulla retrorsum, ought to have been the word that 
night, if ever. The second and graver error was, 
allowing the parson to go first, when they started 
in earnest. The light, lithe body of the soldier 
could glide over the roof with the silent swiftness 
of a cat " on the rampage ; " the same animal, 
shod with walnut-shells, suggests itself as an apt, 
though irreverent comparison for the priestly fugi- 
tive. To use the narrator's own words — occasion- 
ally more forcible than elegant : 

" You might have heard him two blocks off, 
squattering and spluttering over the shingles." 

Those miserable machines, when put to the 
proof, made more noise than even we had imputed 
to them. The prisoners over whose heads the 
parson passed, heard the slipping and scratching 



DAKK DAYS. 203 

quite plainly, though the attic floor was between 
them. Nevertheless he had time to reach the desired 
window, to let it slip once with a resonant bang, 
and to slip inside out of sight, before any alarm 
was raised. But the drowsy or careless sentinel 
awoke to a sense of his position just as the second 
fugitive turned the first chimney-stack, and chal- 
lenged with a threat of shooting. The Marylander 
knew that the game was up, as far as he was con- 
cerned ; if he w^ent on and escaped the bullet, 
those below would have seen at w^hat window he 
entered, and the start was hopelessly short : to per- 
sist would only have insured two recaptures- He 
certainly did the wisest thing in retracing his way 
as speedily as possible. When the guards came 
to No. 22, they found its solitary inmate in bed, 
sleeping apparently the heavy, stertorous sleep of 
a deep drinker : an empty whisky-bottle gave a 
color of probability to the picture. They could 
get nothing out of him then ; and, afterwards, he 
took the line of having been insensibly overcome 
by liquor, and so prevented from accompanying 
his fellow-prisoner. The authorities could scarcely 
have believed the story ; but perhaps they wished 
to keep the escape as quiet as possible; at any 
rate the Marylander was not more strictly guarded 
or severely treated than before. He took the mis- 
hap with w^onderful pluck and good-humor, and 
spoke rather humorously than wrathfully of the 



204 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

whole affair. Yet, as far as he knew, he had come 
back to indefinite captivity. When he went South 
with the rest of them on the 20th of May, no man 
of the five hundred better deserved freedom. 

Some days afterwards we had news of the 
divine — safe so far, and many miles away. Cer- 
tainly, had he possessed his soul in patience a 
fortnight or so longer, he would have been 
forwarded to his desired destination secure! jr and 
at the expense of the enemy. Before he reaches it 
now, he will have paid away a sheaf of green- 
backs, and run the gauntlet of a frontier blockade, 
closing in more tightly every hour. North of the 
Potomac there is no rest for the sole of his foot. 
So, many would say, that the escapade had far 
better have been deferred. Eight weeks ago I 
should have been of that same opinion, but now 
I doubt — I — doubt. The prospect outside 
ought to be very dark, and rife with peril, to 
induce a man to resign himself deliberately t^ 
another decameron here.* 

On the 15th of May, my room-fellow was told 

''■ Since writing the above, I have met the parson in England. 
I am bound to state that he gives rather a different account of the 
escapade, and intimates that the Maryland j^outh's " tightness " 
was rather real than shamed ; that it was, in fact, the cause of 
his being left behind. It is possible that I may have been too 
hard on his reverence's nervousness — scarcely doing justice to his 
earnestness of purpose ; but, as to the aforesaid infernal machines 
I decline to retract one word. 



DARK DAYS. 20-5 

that he was to be sent South immediately : ho 
received the news very stoHdly, and betrayed no 
impatience during the interval that elapsed before 
the exchange-steamer could be got ready. Truth 
to say, it is rather an equivocal advantage — to be 
turned loose in a city where famine-prices prevail, 
utterly penniless. But, if my mate did not exult 
in his prospects, neither did he in any way despond. 
He '* supposed he'd get along somehow ;" indeed, 
he had plenty of a very useful capital — solid, 
perseveiing self-reliance. 

There was great bustle in the yard on the 
morning of the 20th ; all the men who had got 
the order of release were mustered there before 
ten o'clock. After many delays, each person 
passed out singly, as his name was called, and it 
was high noon when the last prize was drawn ; 
leaving nothing but dreary — very dreary — blanks 
for us whose tickets were still in the wheel. 
There was no uproarious merriment, or even 
exuberant cheerfulness in the crowd below ; the 
satisfaction was of the saturnine sort, such as 
people feel who have waited long for their just 
dues, and have extraordinarily little to be thankful 
for. Once more, in dumb show, I pledged mine 
honest host of the White Grounds, while he 
responded in a stealthy dur.-an-dhurras ; then, 
having furnished my mate with such provant as 
was available, I wished him, too, sincerely good- 
speed. 



206 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

I cannot say that I was sorry, at first, to find 
myself quite alone. I am ashamed to confess that 
I had been daily growing more sullen and unso- 
cial ; upon reflection, I think I had decidedly be- 
gun to tyrannize over my companion ; some of his 
harmless peculiarities, which I hardly noticed at 
first, would, at times, irritate me savagely ; besides 
every cubic inch of vacant space has its value in a 
low-browed room twelve feet by eight, when the 
thermometer means mounting in earnest. But, 
as the dreary time dragged on, and as the leaden 
listlessness settled down heavier hour by hour, I 
began to look back regretfully, if not remorsefully. 
There were moments, not few or far between, 
when I would have given much to hear the wire- 
drawn monotone that lately had been an offense 
to me ; ay, even though each slow sentence should 
be punctuated by expectoration. 

Among those w^ho were exempted from the 
gaol delivery was an Englishman, John Hardcastle 
by name, who had been arrested about a month 
later than myself, on the Lower Potomac, on his 
way homeward through the Northern States. He 
had, I believe, been employed by the Confederate 
Government in carrying out some inventions and 
improvements in armory. There w^as nothing re- 
markable about the little, round, ruddy man, 
except a joviality which never seemed to droop in 
the heavy prison air ; when I wrote that an honest 



DARK DATS. 207 

laugh was never heard here, I ought to have made 
that one exception ; he had a fair voice, too, and a 
large collection of songs, which he chanted out 
merrily, instead of merging all tunes into one 
dolorous drone. He was confined at first on the 
floor immediately under me, but, on the 20th of 
May, changed his quarters into one of the large 
rooms in the main building, with windows open- 
ing back and front into the yard and the avenue ; 
these latter were \vithout bars. All through the 
evening of Sunday, the 24th, I listened, rather 
enviously, to Hardcastle's noisy mirth; his voice 
never ceased to rattle — now bantering a fellow- 
prisoner with good-natured aggravation — now 
shouting out a verse of some popular song — now 
declaiming a sentence or so of exaggerated mock- 
oratory — yet he did not give me the idea of being 
uproarious with drink (I heard afterwards he was 
perfectly sober), rather, he seemed possessed by 
an exhilaration involuntary and irrational, like a 
person who has inhaled laughing-gas. It was not 
till next day that the Highland word *' Fey " 
came into my mind. I am scarcely inclined now, 
wholly to deride that old superstition. Is it pos- 
sible that the foreshadow of doom does, in some 
mysterious way, afiect certain nerv'ous svstems, 
when the soul, within a few hours, must pass out 
free through the rugged doors of "vdolent death '? 
About eleven o'clock on the following morning 



208 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

I heard a rifle-shot, but took little heed of it, as I 
knew that accidental discharges from careless hand- 
ling of firelocks were not uncommon. Shortly 
afterwards, the officer of the keys asked me to 
visit the Superintendent in his room. It was nat- 
ural that such a summons should conjure up cer- 
tain faint hopes of approaching liberation ; or, at 
least, of the " hearing " so long deferred. All such 
visions vanished instantly at the first sight of the 
official's face, as he met me in the doorway ; no 
good tidings for any one were written there ; I 
knew that some grave disaster had occurred, before 
my eye lighted on the table, strewn with papers, 
letters, and bank-notes — all dabbled with the dull, 
red blots that marked the hand of Cain. 

In a very few words — spoken in a low hoarse 
voice, strangely changed from its wonted boister- 
ous loudness — the Superintendent told me why I 
was wanted there. A British subject had just 
been shot by a sentinel for transgressing the win- 
dow-order mentioned above ; as eight hundred 
dollars in Confederate notes, besides other valua- 
bles, were found on his person, it was thought well 
that I should assist at the inventory and attest its 
correctness. It seemed that some hasty words of 
the Superintendent, reflecting on the remissness of 
the soldiers on duty, had been the proximate cause 
of the slaughter. I do believe that the death- 
warrant was unwittingly spoken. The man's bear- 



DARK DAYS. 209 

ing and demeanor are rough, even to coarseness, 
and his sensibilities probably blunted from having 
perpetually to listen to complaints and tales of 
wrong-doing, which he must perforce ignore ; but 
I do not think his nature is harsh or cruel ; the 
bark of Cerberus is much worse than the bite ; and 
he is quite capable of benevolent actions, done in 
an uncouth way. The lips of the corpse up-stairs 
were scarcely whiter than those that kept work- 
ing and muttering nervously close by my shoulder, 
as I sat at my ghastly task. I was right glad when 
all was ended, and I had escaped from the small, 
close room, where the air seemed heavy with the 
savor of blood. All that day, there lay upon the 
prison-house a weight and a gloom, that came not 
from the mu.rky, windless sky ; the few faces that 
showed themselves in the yard looked more dark 
and sullen than ever; and men, gathering in knots 
instead of j)acing to and fro, murmured or whis- 
pered eagerly. My unlucky head chanced to be 
more troublesome than usual ; altogether, I cannot 
look back upon a more depressing evening. 

About noon on the following day, a tawdry 
coffin of polished elm, beaded and plated wherever 
there was room for a scrap of silvered metal, was 
laid on chairs in the prison yard ; and, soon, all 
those who had access to that part of the building 
gathered round it — listening, uncovered, to the 
scanty rites, which the Old Capitol concedes to 



210 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

prisoners released by that Power, in presence of 
whose claims the habeas corpus is never suspended. 
A tall, lank-haired man, looking more like an 
undertaker than a divine of any denomination, read 
straight through, without a syllable of preface, the 
fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians, and then, kneeling down, began a rambling, 
extemporaneous prayer, the main object of which 
seemed to be, to address the Deity by as many 
periphrastic adjurations as possible. The orator 
besought "that these melancholy circumstances 
might be blessed to us, the survivors ;" and 
rehearsed several platitudes on the uncertainty of 
life ; but, from first to last, there was not one 
single word of intercession or commendation on 
behalf of the dead man's soul. I w^as glad when 
it was over ; our own simple service, read by the 
merest layman, would surely have been a more 
fitting obsequy. 

What followed was startling enough from its 
very suddenness. One of the assistants stepped 
forward, and, with a quick, careless motion, threw 
back two folding simtters, that formed the upper 
part of the coffin lid ; the blaze of the vertical sun, 
on which no living thing could have looked 
unblinded, fell full on the heavy eyelids, that 
never shrunk or shivered, and on the bare, upturned 
features, blanched to the unnatural whiteness only 
found in corpses from which the life-blood has 



DAEK DATS. 211 

been drained away. Since then, I have tried to 
recall the face as I saw it often — round and ruddy, 
beaming with reckless joviality, and grotesque 
humor : it will only rise as I saw it once — white, 
and solemn, and still. When the crowd had satis- 
fied their curiosity, the coffin was borne away, 
and everything fell back into the old groove of 
monotony. 

It will hardly be believed, that, though the vic- 
tim had communicated more than once with the 
British Legation (an envelope franked by Lord 
Lyons was among the papers I examined), the Fed- 
eral authorities did not deem it necessary to give 
any official notice of the slaughter. Percy Ander- 
son was absolutely ignorant of what had happened, 
when he came to me on the following day. The 
fact, too, is significant, that the Washington jour- 
nals, for whose net no incident is generally too" 
small, made no allusion to the tragedy, till the 
Thursday morning ; I presume silence was consid- 
ered useless, when a member of our Legation must 
have been made acquainted with the details. 

The regrets of those who may have been inter- 
ested in poor John Hardcastle'slife and death, will 
scarcely be lessened by the knowledge, that he 
was not even in fault when he suff*ered. There 
were eight or ten prisoners confined in the same 
room ; and it was one of his companions who had 
previously been twice warned back by the sentinel : 



212 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

he himself was shot ahnost instantaneously after 
his head was thrust forth, without a second chal- 
lenge. The Washington papers stated that, when 
ordered to draw back, he refused with an oath. 
With such chroniclers, one would not bandy con- 
tradictions ; I give this version of the facts, as I 
received it from the lips of the Superintendent. 

Late in the afternoon of Wednesday, the 27th, I 
was again summoned below. I found Percy An- 
derson waiting there : he had obtained from the 
War Office an order to see me alone, without lim- 
itation of time. I understood that there was no 
precedent for such a concession ; the general rule 
being that prisoners should only receive their 
friends in the presence of an officer, who is bound 
to watch and listen jealously, while no interview 
can be extended beyond fifteen minutes. Never, 
surely, was a call better timed. I was at my very 
worst, just then ; besides a couple of potatoes and 
a crust of dry bread, no solid food had passed my 
lips for seventy hours. Of my personal appear- 
ance, from my own knowledge, I can say nothing, 
(for my mate and I had agreed in considering 
mirrors superfluous luxuries) ; but, from the start- 
ling effect produced upon my visitor, I fancy that 
the dreary week of weeks had made wild work 
with the outward as well as inward man. I know 
that the kind diplomatist was more than pained at 
finding himself unable to give me any foothold of 



DARK DAYS. . 213 

certain or substantial hope ; it was impossible to 
hazard a reliable guess as to the termination of my 
confinement. Hitherto, the unceasing efforts of 
the Legation had spent themselves on the passive 
obstinacy of the Federal Government like bullets 
on a cotton bale ; of a truth it was long before 
those nnjust judges grew aweary. Nevertheless, 
the mere sight and sound of a frank English face 
and voice were more effectual restoratives than all 
the cunning tonics and incentives with which the 
prison surgeon had been striving to quicken an 
imperceptible pulse, and to revive a deceased ap- 
petite. I have always thought since, that the 
rest at that one conversational oasis, just enabled 
me to hold on to the hither verge of Sahara. 

The next eight days seem nearly blank to me 
now. I was past reading anything, for I could 
scarcely make out the capitals with which the 
journalists headed their daily bits of romance from 
Vicksburg and elsewhere. It was with great dif- 
ficulty that I scrawled detached sentences at long 
intervals — a difficulty that, I fear, some unhappy 
compositor, doomed to decipher the foregoing 
pages, will thoroughly appreciate, though he may 
decline to sympathize with. 

I had one passage of arms with the Superinten- 
dent during that week. I have an idea that I 
spoke somewhat freely with regard to the Admin- 
istration that he had the honor to serve, pressing 



214 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

him for a justification of its conduct in my own 
especial case. 

The official listened quite coolly and calmly, 
with a twinkle of amusement in his shrewd cyni- 
cal eyes, and answered : 

" Well, we've had a good bit of trouble with 
England and English this year ; and I reckon they 
think they've got a pretty fair-sized fish now, and 
mean to keep him, whether or no." 

*' That's Republican justice, all over," I said; 
" to make the one that you can catch, pay for the 
dozen that you can't, or that you are afraid to 
grapple with." 

"I don't know about justice," was the reply; 
" but it's d — d good policy." 

And so we parted — not a whit worse friends 
than before. 

Delicta, majorum, immeritus lues, 

if memory had not failed me, I might have quoted 
that line often and appropriately enough. But 
every agent in the " robbery " — from the vainglo- 
rious Virginian, my chief captor, down to the 
smooth Secretary, whose velvet gripe was so loth 
to unclose — seemed provokingly bent on exagger- 
ating the importance of their prize. Perhaps the 
very interest felt in my release, and the exertions 
unsparingly used — especially in Baltimore — to se- 
cure it, strengthened the false impressions or pre- 



DARK DAYS. 215 

tenses of the Federal powers. I write in the firm 
assurance that no Southern friend will deem these 
words ungracious or ungrateful. 

There is no stone, above- or below ground, white 
enough to mark, worthily, in my calender, the fifth 
day of last June. I hereby abjure, for evermore, 
any superstitious prejudice against the ill luck of 
Fridays. Late in the afternoon, I was pacing to 
and fro in the narrow exercise-ground, speculating 
idly as to the delay of my dinner, which was over- 
due — not that I felt any interest in the subject, 
but it was a sort of break, and fresh starting-point 
in the monotony of hours — ^when I was summoned 
once more into official presence. They took me 
to the room on the ground-floor, where I had wait- 
ed on the first day of my imprisonment while the 
cell above was preparing. I found there the lieu- 
tenant commanding the guard, and two or three 
more officers, one of whom, I understood, was a 
deputy of the Judge-Advocate. They read out a 
paper, of which the following is an exact copy, 
and asked if I had any objection to sign it : 



District of Columbia, 
County of Washington. 



Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D. C. 



I, , of , in England, do solemnly 

swear on my Parole of Honor, that I will leave the United States 



216 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

of America, with as little delay as possible, and that I will not 
return there during the existing rebellion. 

So help me God. 

Signed, . 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, 
this fifth day of June, a. d. 1863. 

John A. Lovell, 

Lieut. Comdg. Guard. 

Now, had I been offered a free passage South, I 
doubt if I should have accepted it, then ; the as- 
pect of things within the last two months had 
changed for me entirely. I could not hope to 
carry out one of my original plans ; for all availa- 
ble resources were nearly exhausted, and procuring 
fresh supplies from home would have involved 
infinite difficulty and delay. Besides, a refusal 
gave at once to the Federal authorities the pretext 
for detention that they had sought so eagerly, and, 
so far, failed to find. I know no earthly consider- 
ation, excepting clear obligations of duty or honor, 
that would have persuaded me to incur ten more 
prison days. If, instead of being a free aigent, I 
had been bound by an oath to penetrate into 
Secessia at all hazards, I should have held myself 
at that moment amply assoilzed of my vow. So, 
with the remark — " that, of all the places on this 
earth, the Northern States of America was the 
country I most wished to leave, and least cared to 
revisit" — I signed the parole, and confirmed it 
with an oath. 



DARK DAYS. 217 

Then, it appeared that my debt to the Union 
was paid, so that it had no further lien on my 
effects or me. The saddle-bags were soon packed ; 
in another half-hour, I stood outside the prison- 
door — realizing, with a dull, dazed feeling of 
strangeness and novelty, that there was not the 
shadow of bolt, bar, or wall between me and the 
clear sultry skies. 
10 



218 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 



CHAPTER XI. 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 



Now that this personal narrative is drawing 
rapidly to its close, there is one point to which I 
must needs allude, at the risk of sinning egotisti- 
cally. While under lock and key, I never ventured 
to grapple with the subject. Even now — sitting 
in a pleasant room, with windows opening down 
on a trim lawn studded with flower-jewels and 
girdled with the mottled belts of velvet-green that 
are the glory of Devonion shrub-land, beyond 
which Tobray shimmers broad and blue under the 
breezy summer weather — I shrink from it with a 
strange reluctance that I cannot shake off, though 
it shames me. 

I speak of the effect — moral, intellectual, and 
physical — produced by those eight weeks of im- 
prisonment. 

I do not wish to intimate that there were any 
actual hardships beyond the prevention of free air 
and exercise to be endured. More than this ; I am 
ready and willing to allow, that certain privileges 
were conceded to me that I had no right to claim, 
which were granted to few, if any, of my fellows in 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 219 

misfortune. The Corporal of the Keys was a clerk 
in the house of Ticknor & Field, the great Bos- 
ton pul)lishers, before he became a soldier ; and 
was disposed to show every consideration and 
indulgence to one whom he was pleased to consider 
a brother of the Literate Guild. The undei> 
superintendent — Donnelly by name — treated one 
with a benevolence quite patenial. The mon- 
otony of my solitary confinement was often broken 
by his rambling chat and reminiscences of a gam- 
bler's life in the Far West ; for he liked nothing 
better than lingering in my cell for an hour or 
so, when his day's work was done. After the 
prison doors were opened, I lingered for ten 
minutes within them, to exchange a farewell 
hand-grip with that quaint, kind old man. There 
was a stringent curfew-order, enjoining the ex- 
tinguishment of all lights at nine, P. M. ; but on con- 
dition of vailing my window with a horse-rug, 
so as not to establish a bad precedent, I was allow- 
ed to keep mine burning at discretion. Now some 
readers of these pages may think that a confine- 
ment, such as I have described, wherein there was 
to be obtained a sufficiency of meat, drink, 
tobacco, and light literature, is not, after all, a 
peine forte et dure ; and that it is both weak and 
unreasonable thereanent to make one's moan. So, 
in bygone days, when a lazy fit was strong upon 
me, have I thought myself. I am not malicious 



220 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

enough to wish that the most contemptuously 
skeptical of such critics may be undeceived, at the 
j^rice which I paid for the learning. It is possi- 
ble that a person of settled sedentary habits, 
endowed not only with powerful resources within 
himself, but also with the ornament of a meek 
and quiet spirit, might hold out well enough for 
awhile, more especially if supported by the reflec- 
tion that he was suffering for his country's good 
or for his own private advantage. But take the 
converse example of a man unsupported by any 
consolations of patriotism or peculation, of a tem- 
perament somewhat impatient, and prone to anger, 
accustomed, too, from youth upwards, to constant 
habits of strong out-door exercise, with such an 
one I fancy it will fare — very much as it fared 
with me. It is an established fact, that a few 
months' confinement within four walls, without 
stint of food or aggravation of punishment, will 
bring an athletic Red Indian to the extreme of 
bodily prostration, if not to mortal sickness. 

It is humiliating to confess, but I fear unhap- 
pily true, that in despite of all advantages o^ a 
civilized education, some of us, under like cir- 
cumstances, will go down as helplessly as the 
noble savage. 

Would you like to hear of the process ? It 
is not pleasant to look upon, or to tell. 

The first few days are spent in an uneasy, irri- 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 221 

table expectation that every hour will bring some 
news — good or bad — from the world without, 
bearing on your own especial case ; then comes 
the frame of mind wherein you allow that there 
must be certain official delays, and begin to calcu- 
late, wearily, bow far the wire-drawn formalities 
will be protracted, making a liberal margin for 
unexpected contingencies : this phase soon passes 
away: then comes the bitter, up-hill fight of 
hoping against hope ; how long this may endure 
depends much on temperament — more on bodily 
health ; but in most cases it is soon over, and is 
succeeded by the last state, ten thousand times 
worse than the first : slowly, but very surel}^ the 
dense black cloud of utter listlessness settles 
down, never broken thereafter save by brief 
flashes of a futile, irrational ferocity. All your 
ideas move round like tired mill-horses, in the nar- 
rowest circle, with an unhappy Ipse Ego for its 
centre: all the passing events of the outward 
world seem unnaturally dwarfed and distant, as if 
seen through an inverted telescope : the struggles 
of stranger nations move you no more than the 
battles on an ant-hill ; the only question of civil 
or religious liberty in which you feel the faintest 
interest is the unimportant one involving your own 
personal freedom. And throughout you are shame- 
fully conscious that this indifference is not philo- 
sophical, but simply selfish. 



222 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

So much for the morale. Does the physique fare 
better. 

When you enter the gaol, there is probably laid 
up in your lungs a certain store of fresh, free air, 
which takes some time to exhaust itself; but soon 
you begin to draw your breath more and more 
slowly, and to feel that the atmosphere inhaled no 
longer refreshes you ; no wonder — it is laden with 
compressed animal life. Then a dull, hot weight 
closes round your brows, as if a heavy, fever- 
stricken hand was always clasping them ; there it 
lies — at night, when the drowsiness which is not 
sleep overcomes you — in the morning, when you 
wake, with damp linen and dank hair: plunge 
your forehead in ice-cold water ; before the drops 
have dried there it is burning — burning again. 
The distaste for all food grows upon you, till it be- 
comes a loathing not to be driven away by bitters 
or quinine : there is no savor in the smoke of 
Kinnekinnick, nor any flavor in the still waters of 
Monongahela. Physical prostration of necessity 
speedily ensues. Let me mention one fact — not 
in vaunting, but in proof that I do not speak idly. 
When we were trying those athletics at Green- 
land, the day after my capture, I could rend a 
broad linen band fastened tightly round my upper 
arm by bending the biceps : when I had been a 
month in Carroll place I had to halt, at least once, 
from absolute breathlessness and debility, on the 



i 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 223 

stairs leading from the yard to the third story ; 
my pulse was almost imperceptible. By this time 
my sight had become so seriously affected that I 
was absolutely unable to read the clearest print; 
even now, a month after my enfranchisement, 
though keen Atlantic breezes and home comforts 
have worked wonders, I cannot write five conse- 
cutive sentences without a respite. 

I am forced to quote my own experience ; but 
I know that it could be matched, if not exceeded, 
by very many cases of equal or worse suffering. 

Long confinement falls, of course, intensely 
harder on a stranger than on a native. The latter, 
I suppose, can never quite divest himself of an in- 
terest in passing events, which the former, at the 
best of times, can but faintly share : besides which, 
most Americans — not purely political prisoners — 
have either a definite term of captivity to look for- 
ward to, or are, in one way or other, subject to the 
chances of exchange. 

If the Federal Government had avowed at once, 
that it was their sovereign pleasure to keep an 
Englishman in durance for a certoiw period, without 
attempting to excuse the arbitrary stretch of au- 
thority, one would have chafed, I suppose, under 
the injustice, but still submitted, as it is the duty 
of manhood to submit to any inevitable necessity. 
It was the doubt and indefiniteness of the whole 
affair that made it so inexpressibly exasperating. 



224 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

It was bad enougli to have no palpable adversary 
to grapple with : it was worse to have no specific 
charge. As I had contravened a general order by 
crossing the Federal lines without a pass, the Le- , 
gation did not apply for my unconditional release : - '<. 
it merely pressed for the inquiry and trial that, in 
most civilized countries, a criminal can claim as a 
right. I was never confronted with any judicial 
authority from the moment that I entered the 
prison doors till they opened to let me go free : I 
never received any official intimation of the reasons 
for my prolonged detention ; and Lord Lyons' re- 
peated applications were at last only met by a 
vague assertion that they *'had reason to believe 
that an aide-de-camp's commission, signed by Gen- 
eral Lee, had reached me at Baltimore." There 
was not, of course, the faintest scintilla of evidence 
to establish anything of the sort. While in Amer- 
ica I received no communication whatever — writ- 
ten or verbal — from any person connected with 
the Confederate Government or army. 

I do honestly affirm that, in dilating on the sev- 
eral hardships of my own especial case, I have no 
idea of enlisting any sympathy, pubUc or private. 
I simply wish to show what arbitrary oppression 
can be exercised upon British subjects with perfect 
impunity by a Government which will maintain 
quasi-friendly relations with our own just so long 
as it conforms the standing-ground of a tottering 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 226 

Cabinet. Perhaps, some day or other, as a last 
peace-ofFeriiig to the Republican hydra, MM. Sew- 
ard and Stanton will burn a bishop, and so bring 
our pacific Foreign Office to bay. 

Physical causes prevented my feeling very ex- 
hilarated or exultant during my earliest hours of 
freedom. It was pleasant though to meet an En- 
glish face at the hotel where I meant to sleep. I 
liad not seen Mr. Austin since we were contempo- 
raries at Oxford ; but on the 2d June I had received 
from him a very kind and courteous note, offering 
a visit, if it should be acceptable. I need scarcely 
say how welcome it would have been ; but he did 
not get my written reply till the following Mon- 
day — not bad time, either, for the Old Capitol post- 
office. I dined with Mr. Austin, and at the same 
table sat General Martindale, military commander 
at Washington, and Senator Sumner. The former 
certainly recognized my identity ; but he was not 
the less amicable for that. It was, odd to find 
myself receiving suggestions as to my route, in 
case I visited Niagara, from the same man who 
three days before had granted a pass to my friend 
for his proposed prison visit. I sat some time 
after dinner in talk with Mr. Sumner. His face is 
much aged and careworn since I first saw it, some 
years ago, in England : but his manner retains the 
polished geniality which made him so great a 
favorite in most European salons, 
10* 



226 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

The rest of the evening I spent at Percy Ander- 
son's. I much regretted that I could not see Lord 
Lyons, to express my sense of his unwearied exer- 
tions in my behalf; but he was dining out; and 
it was judged better that I should not risk an 
apparent infringement of my parole by lingering 
in Washington an unnecessary hour the next 
morning, so I was forced to trust my thanks to 
writing. 

I can never forget, while I live, the welcomes 
which waited me in Baltimore ; welcomes much 
too cordial to be wasted on a discomfited adven- 
turer. Still I was glad to find that those whose 
opinion was well worth having gave one credit 
for having deserved success. I was very, very 
loth to leave my kind friends, though we may 
perchance forgather again should I outlive my 
parole, and be enabled to carry out certain half- 
formed plans of hunting in the Far West. It was 
only the sternest sense of duty that impelled me 
to sacrifice to Niagara sixty hours that intervened 
before June the 13th, when the Inman steamer 
started, in which I had secured a berth by tele- 
graph. 

Twenty-two hours of unbroken rail-travel — 
partly through the beautiful Susquehannah Val- 
ley ; partly through the best cultivated lands 
(about Troy and Elmira) that I saw in the States, 
whose trim, loose stone walls reminded one of 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 227 

part of the Heythrop and Cotswold countries — 
brought us to Buffalo. The Company had here 
so contrived matters that it was absolutely im- 
possible for the traveler to proceed farther that 
night, or to get at any luggage beyond what he 
carries in his hand : from Elmira it travels by a 
route of its own, to which your through-ticket 
does not apply : the baggage-agent hands it over 
to you at Niagara the next morning, with a cheer- 
fully placid face, as if rather proud of the satis- 
factory correctness of the whole arrangement. 

I will not add a stone to the descriptive cairn 
heaped up by generations of tourists in honor of 
the King-Cataract ; simply because it is presump- 
tion in any man to pass judgment on that famous 
scene till he has studied it for more days than I 
could spare hours. I do not think the eye is dis- 
appointed, even at first sight : after being fully 
prepared by C-hurch's vivid picture — a very tri- 
umph of transparent coloring — you still stand 
dumb in honest admiration of that one miracle in 
the midst of wonders — the central curve of the 
Horse-shoe — where the main current plunges over 
the verge, without a ripple to break the grandeur 
of the clear, smooth chrysoprase, flashing back 
the sunlight through a filmy lace-work of foam. 
But the ear is certainly dissatisfied ; perhaps my 
acoustics were out of order, as well as other 
cephalic organs ; but it struck me that Niagara 



228 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

hardly made any noise at all. Yet I penetrated 
under the Fall as far as there is practicable foot- 
hold ; and listened at all sorts of distances for a 
deafening roar, which never came. 

I started eastward again- by that same night's 
express. I cannot let this, my last experience, 
pass, without recording my vote on the much- 
mooted question of American railway travel. 
The natives, of course, extol, the whole system as 
one of the greatest of their institutions; but I can- 
not understand any difference of opinion among 
strangers. The baggage arrangement — except 
when the Company suffers under an aberration of 
intellect, such as I have mentioned on the Niagara 
route — is really convenient, and the commissiotiaires 
attached to every train relieve you of all responsi- 
bility at your journey's end, by collecting your 
effects and transporting them to any given direc- 
tion ; but this solitary advantage does not counter- 
balance other desagrcmens. When the weather is 
such as to allow a true current of air to circulate 
through the car, the atmosphere is barely endura- 
ble ; but with stoves at work, and all apertures 
closed, it soon becomes dangerously oppressive. 
The German element prevails strongly throughout 
Yankeeland : perhaps this accounts for the natives' 
dread of fresh air. Your only chance of escaping 
from semi-suffocation is to secure a seat next to a 
window, and keep it open, hardening your heart 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 229 

against all the grumbling of your neighbors, who 
run through a whole gamut of complaints, in the 
hope of softening or shaming the Hyperborean. 
Sometimes you will have to encounter menaces ; 
but, in such a cause, it is surely worth while to do 
battle to the death ; revolver and bowie-knife lose 
their terrors in the presence of imminent asphyxia. 
The advocates of the system chiefly insist on the 
sleeping-cars, and the advantage of passing from 
one end of the train to the other at your pleasure. 
On the first of these points, let n}e say, that few 
aliens, after one trusting experiment of those 
stifling berths, will be inclined to repeat it : the 
atmosphere of a crowded steamboat cabin is pure 
and fresh by comparison. As for the vaunted 
promenade — the man who would avail himself 
thereof, would probably waltz with grace and 
comfort to himself on the deck of the Lively Sally 
in a sea-way : it requires some practice even to 
stand upright without holding on ; the jolting and 
oscillation are such that I think you take rather 
more involuntary exercise than on the back of a 
cantering cover-hack. The pace is not such as to 
make much amends : from twenty to twenty-five 
miles an hour is the outside speed even of ex- 
presses ; and on mapy lines you ought to calculate 
the probabilities of arrival by anything rather than 
the time-tables. Collisions, however, are certainly 
rare ; the most common accident is when the train 



230 BORDER AND BASTILLP]. 

breaks through one of the crazy wooden bridges, 
or, obeying the direction of some playfully 
eccentric pointsman, plunges headlong over an 
embankment into some peaceful valley below. 
The steam-signals are very peculiar ; the engine 
never whistles, but indulges in a prolonged 
bellow, very like the hideous sounds emitted by 
that hideous semi-brute, yclept the Gong-Donkey, 
who used to haunt our race-courses some years 
ago — making weak-minded men start, and strong- 
minded women scream with his unearthly roaring 
When I first heard the hoarse warning-note boom 
through the night, a shudder of reminiscence came 
over ma, for I used to shrink from that awful 
creature with a repugnance such as I never felt 
for any other living thing. 

All the weariness of the long night-journey will 
not prevent a traveler from appreciating the su- 
perb Hudson, along whose banks the last part of 
the road, from Albany, is carried. You are seldom 
out of sight of the Caatskill range — blue in the dis- 
tance or dark in the foreground — but the crowning 
glory of the river are the old cliiFs, where the rock 
soars up sheer from the water's edge, with no more 
vegetation on its face than will grow in the crev- 
ices of ancient walls. 

I had scarcely twenty-four hours left for the 
Imperial City before the Edinburgh sailed. This 
time I abode at the New York Hotel, where a 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 231 

Baltimorean had already secured quarters. This 
much, at least, must be conceded to the Yankee 
capital. In no other town that I know of can a 
traveler so thoroughly take his ease in his inn. 
These magnificent caravanserais cast far into the 
shade the best managed establishments of London, 
Paris, or Vienna, simply because luxuries enough 
to satiate any moderate desires, are furnished at 
fixed prices that need not alarm the most econom- 
ical traveler. The cuisine at the New York Hotel 
is really artistic, and the attendance quite perfect. 
Also is found there a certain Chateau Margaux of 
'48 : after savoring that rich liquid velvet, you 
will not wonder that the house has long been a 
favorite with the Southern Sybarites. Things are 
changed, of course, now, and many of Mr. Cran- 
ston's old patrons must uow exercise their critical 
tastes on mountain whisky and ration beef; but 
the tone of feeling in the establishment remains 
the same. An out-spoken Republican or Aboli- 
tionist would not meet a cordial welcome from the 
present frequenters of the New York, nor, I think, 
from its jovial host. Likewise the Empress City 
can boast that her barbers and iced drinks do 
actually *' beat all creation." After a long journey 
you are thoroughly disposed to appreciate these 
scientific tonsors, whose delicacy of manipulation 
is unequaled in Europe. Only the pen of that 
eloquent writer, who told the " Times " how he 



232 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

" thirsted in the desert," could do justice to the 
high-art triumphs of the cunning barkeeper. 

" Joe " — of the mirthful eye, and agile hand, and 
ready repartee — long may you flourish, mitigating 
the fierce summer thirst of many a parched palate ; 
stimulating withered appetites till they hunger 
anew for the flesh-pots; warming the heart- 
cockles of departing voyagers till they laugh the 
keen breezes of the bay to scorn. With me, at 
least, gratitude for repeated refreshment shall long 
keep your memory green — green as the mint- 
sprays that, when your last "julep" is mingled, 
should surely be strewn, unsparingly, on your 
grave. 

I never felt quite clear of Federaldom till I set 
my foot firm on the deck of the good ship Edin- 
burgh. I did not indulge in a soliloquy even then ; 
so I certainly shall not inflict on you any rhapso- 
dies about freedom ; but, in good truth, the sensa- 
tion was too agreeable to be easily forgotten. 

The homeward voyage was as great a " success," 
as unbroken fine weather, favorable winds, and 
company both pleasant and fair, could make it. 
On the thirteenth day, towards evening, I found 
myself in the familiar Adelphi, at Liverpool, savor- 
ing some "clear" turtle, not with a less relish 
because, in the accurately pale face of the waiter 
who brought in the lordly dish, there v/as not the 
faintest yellow tinge nor a ripple of " wool " in his 
hair. 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 233 

All of my personal narrative that could possibly 
interest the most indulgent public is told now ; if 
the few words I have left to say should bore you — 
O patient reader ! — they will at least be free of 
egotism. 



234 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 



CHAPTER XII. 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT. 



It was. ordained that the navy should reap all 
the boys and the men that were to be gathered in 
the warfare of this spring. The amphibious fail- 
ures in the southwest involved no graver conse- 
quences than a vast futile expenditure of Northern 
time, money, and men ; such waste has been too 
common, of late, to excite much popular disgust 
or surprise. In other parts, the keenest cor- 
respondent has been put to great straits for 
memorable matter ; for a skirmish, or a raid, 
even on a large scale, can hardly carry much 
beyond a local interest. 

On the last day of April, the summer land- 
campaign began in earnest, when its truculent 
commander led the " finest army on the planet " 
across the Rappahanock, unopposed. 

If all other warlike music was prudently silent 
then, be sure, the General's own private trumpet 
flourished very sonorously ; indeed, for many days 
past it had not ceased to ring. Few armaments 
have set forth under more pompous auspices. 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT 235 

First came the great review, graced by the pre- 
sence of the White House Court, who witnessed 
the marching past of the biennial veterans with 
perfect patience, if not satisfaction. The " spe- 
cials " of the Republican papers outdid themselves 
on that occasion ; magnificently ignoring his tem- 
porary dignity, they hesitated not to compare 
each member of the President's family with a 
corresponding European royalty, giving, of course, 
the preference to the home-manufactured article : 
it was good to read their raptures over the gallant 
bearing of Master Lincoln, as if " the young lulus" 
(as they would call him) had shown himself worthy 
of high hereditary honors. One writer, I think, 
did allow, that the balance of grace might incline 
rather to Eugenie the Empress, than to the Presi- 
dent's stout, good-tempered spouse ; but he was 
much more cynical or conscientious than most of 
his fellows. 

Thenceforward one became aweary of the sight, 
sound, and name of *' Hooker." The right man 
was in the right place at last : had his counsels 
been followed in the Peninsula, when the caution 
or incapacity of McClellan threw the grand oppor- 
tunity away, the Federal flag would have floated 
over Richmond last summer. Was there not the 
hero's own testimony to that effect, rendered before 
the War Committee, months ago, wherein, with a 
chivalrous generosity, he ceased not to exalt 



236 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

himself on the ruined reputation of his late com- 
mander? Even as Ajax prayed for light, the 
people cried aloud for one week of fair weather : 
no more was wanted to crush and utterly con- 
found the hopes of Kebels, Copperheads, and 
perfidious Albion. Every illustrated journal was 
crowded with portraits, of Fighting Joe and his 
famous white charger ; it was said, that horse and 
rider could never show themselves without elicit- 
ing a burst of cheering, such as rang out near the 
Lake Regillus, when Herminus and Black Auster 
broke into the wavering battle. No wonder. 
Had he not thoroughly reorganized the army 
demoralized by Burnside's defeat, till there was 
but one word in every soldier's mouth, and that 
word — ' ' Forward ! " 

There was joy, as for a victory, when it was 
known that the Falmouth camp was broken up, 
and that the eager battalions had left the Rappahan- 
nock fairly behind them : as to success, only fools 
or traitors could question it. Even the Democra- 
tic journals were carried away by the tide, and 
hardly ventured to hesitate their doubts. The 
hero's own proclamation, issued on the south bank 
of the river, was surely enough to reassure the 
most timid unbeliever. 

How vaunt and prophecy were fulfilled, all the 
world knows now. A more miserable waste of 
apparently ample means and material has seldom 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT. 237 

been recoixied in the annals of modern war. 
General Hooker stands forth the worthy rival of 
that mighty monarch, who, 

* ' With fifty thousand men, 
Marched up the hill and then — marched down again. ' ' 

But of the two, the exploit of the American stra- 
tegist is much the most brilliant and memorable ; 
his preparations and blunders were conducted on 
a vaster scale, and, Varus-like, scorning the tri- 
viality of a bloodless disgrace, be left sixteen thou- 
sand dead, wounded, and missing behind in his 
retreat. 

The defeated General may well pray to be saved 
from his friends : the strongest ground of condem- 
nation might be drawn from the excuses of some 
of these injudicious partisans. Not more than a 
third of the Federal forces was, they say, at any 
one time engaged : yet Hooker's last words to his 
troops, before going into action, boasted that the 
enemy must, perforce, fighfc him on his own 
ground. The Federal commander recognized, per- 
haps not less than his opponent, the importance 
of the simple old tactic — bringing a superior 
force to bear on detached or weak points of the 
adverse line — which has entered, under one form 
or another, into most great military combinations 
since war became a science ; but he appears to 
have been utterly incapable of reducing theory to 



238 BORl ER AND BASTILLE. 

practice. For the twentieth time in this war, a 
Northern general was outmanoeuvred and beaten, 
simply because his adversary — understanding how 
to husband an inferior strength — seized the right 
moment for bringing it into pLiy. 

I do not mean to assert that the Confederates 
invariably advance in column, or to advocate 
this especial mode of attack : a successful out- 
flanking of the enemy may turn out an advantage 
not less decided than the breaking of his centre ; 
but, when half-disciplined troops are to be handled, 
concentrative movements must surely be safer than 
extensive ones. It would be well to remember 
that, among all the trained battalions of Europe, 
our own crack regiments are supposed to be the 
only ones that can be thoroughly relied on for 
attacking in line. 

If Hooker thought himself strong enough to 
cross the rear of Lee's army, and cut him off from 
Richmond, while a combined movement against 
the city was being executed by Dix and Keyes 
from the southeast, the delay of forty hours, 
during which he advanced about six miles, can 
scarcely be excused, or even accounted for. That 
the wary foe should be taken entirely by surprise, 
was a conthigency too improbable to be calculated 
on by any sane tactician, however sanguine. 

To dispense almost entirely with the aid of the 
cavalry arm, on the eve of a general engagement, 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT. 239 

was certainly a bold stroke of strategy — too bold 
to be justified by any independent successes likely 
to be achieved by the detachment. Stoneman's 
exploits appear to have been greatly exaggerated ; 
but, whatever were the results, they might clearly 
have been attained if he had crossed the Rappa- 
hannock alone with one horseman, leaving the 
main guard to attend more dress-parades in the 
Falmouth camp. To pretend that weather in 
anywise influenced Hooker's retreat is utterly 
absurd. No change for the worse took place till 
the Tuesday evening, when the army had fallen 
back on the river bank ; the troops were actually 
recrossing when the rain began : then it did come 
down in earnest. 

Nocte pluit tota, redeunt spectacula mare — 

a spectacle frequently repeated in this war — 
that of a Federal General " changing his base " in 
hot haste, without flourish of trumpet. 

At the most critical moment. Fighting Joe 
seems to have been afilicted with the fatal inde- 
cision, by no means incompatible with perfect 
physical fearlessness, which has ruined wiser plans 
than ever were moulded in his brain. Rumor 
hints broadly at a sudden fit of depression, not 
unnatural in one notoriously addicted to the use 
of stimulants ; but this is, probably, the ill-natured 
invention of an enemy. 



240 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

At all such seasons, some subordinate must needs 
lift some of the dishonor from the shoulders of the 
chief. The non-arrival of reinforcements is much 
the easiest way of accounting for a foiled combina- 
tion. The rout of Howard's corps was not to be 
considered, as it happened under the General's 
own eye: so Sedgwick was, by some, made the 
Grouchy of the day : but he seems to have fought 
his division as well as any of his fellows, and it 
was probably a superior force that checked his 
advance towards the main army, and eventually 
hurled him back upon the Rappahannock. 

Perhaps the Confederate organs do not greatly 
exaggerate, when they claim Chancellorville as the 
victory of this war : though there is a fearful 
counterpoise in the loss of the South's favorite 
leader. But the great Army of the Potomac, in 
its shameful retreat, could not console itself by the 
boast of having done to death the terrible enemy, 
at whose name they had learnt to tremble. A 
miserale mistake (so the Richmond papers say) 
slew Stonewall Jackson, in the crisis of victory, 
with a Confederate bullet, as he was reconnoitering 
with his staff in front of his line. 

Surely it is glory, sufficient for any one of wo- 
man born, that the news of his death should have 
sent a start and a shiver through thirty millions of 
hearts. I subjoin a funeral notice, which utters 
very simply and strongly the feeling of the country 



A POrULAR ARMAMENT. 241 

that the stern, pure soldier served so well ; but a 
strange honor and respect attaches to his memory 
amongst those whom in life he never ceased to dis- 
quiet. Even the rabid Republican journalists re- 
joice — not coarsely or ungenerously — speaking 
with bated tones, as is fit and natural in presence 
of a good man's corpse. 

Let us return to our poor Hooker, who is sitting 
now, somewhat gloomily, in the shade. Human 
nature can spare so little sympathy for braggarts 
in disaster, that we may possibly have been too 
hard on his demerits. In this respect the Grim 
old Fighting Cox (as the historian of the Mackerel 
Brigade calls him) is absolutely incorrigible. Con- 
ceive a General — on the very morning after the 
reverse was consummated — proclaiming to his 
soldiers " that they had added to the laurels already 
won by the Army of the Potomac !" If a succes- 
sion of defeats are equal to one victor}^ — on the 
principle of two negatives making an affirmative — 
or if nothing added to a cipher brings out a 
substantial product, there may possibly be some- 
thing in these words beyond the desperation of 
bombast, otherwise 

But, injustice to Joseph, let us ask — Are the 
materials at his command, or at that of any Federal 
commander, really so powerful or manageable as 
they seem ? 

Probably no one civilized nation is composed of 
11 



242 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

elements so difficnlt to mould into the form of a 
thoroughly organized army, as the Northern States 
of the Union. The men individually, especially 
those drawn from the West, are fully endowed 
with the courage, activity, and endurance inherent 
in the Anglo-Saxon race : they can act promptly 
and daringly enough on their own independent 
resources ; but, when required to move as un- 
reasoning units of a mass, directed by a superior 
will, they utterly fail. All the antecedents of the 
Federal recruit interfere with his progress towards 
the mechanical perfection of the trained soldier. 
The gait and demeanor of the country lads are not 
more shambling and slovenly than those of the 
ordinary British ; but the latter from his youth up, 
has imbibed certain ideas of subordination to 
superiors, which make him yield more pliantly and 
implicitly to after discipline. Now, the American 
is taught to contemn all such old-world ideas as 
respect of persons. Even the All-mighty Dollar 
cannot command deference, though it may enforce 
obedience. The volunteer carries with him into 
the ranks, an ostentatious spirit of self-assertion 
and independence. He has always mixed on terms 
of as much equality as his purse would allow of, 
with the class fvom which his officers have emerged 
by election ; and knows that, at the expiration of 
their service, each will resume his place as if no 
such distinction had existed. So he goes into 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT. 243 

action fully prepared to criticise the orders of his 
superiors, and even to ignore thein if they clash 
too strongly with his private judgment ; he has no 
intention of abating one iota of his franchise, or 
one privilege of an enlightened citizen. In the 
regular army, ceremonial is rather better observed ; 
but, even here, you will observe the barriers of 
grade frequently transgressed, both in manner and 
tone : the volunteers will rarely salute even a field- 
officer, unless on parade, or by special orders. 

This spirit of independent judgment is by no 
means confined to the rank and file. The evidence 
before the War Committee shows how seldom a 
General-in-Chief can depend on the hearty co- 
operation of his Division leaders, and how unre- 
servedly dissent w^as often expressed by those 
whose lips discipline ought to have sealed. 

The fact is, that a spirit of party impregnates 
all the military organization of the North : a 
Federal army is a vast political machine. State 
Governors have followed the example of the Ad- 
ministration in their selection of the higher 
officers : these, as a rule, owe their election en- 
tirely to their own influence, or that of their 
friends ; all other qualifications are disregarded. 
It is idle to expect, that such men can command 
the confidence of the soldiers by virtue of their 
rank; they have to win this by individual 



244 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

prowess.* The Confederates have been more just 
and wise. Some of these political appointments 
were made at the beginning of the war, but 
changes were made as soon as incapacity was 
manifest, and almost all posts of importance are 
now occupied by officers educated at West Point, 
or at one of many military schools long established 
at the South. 

An army of free-thinkers is very hard to handle 
either in camp or field. They do not grumble, 
perhaps, so much as the British " full private ;" 
indeed they have little cause, for the commissariat 
arrangements, even in remote departments, are 
admirable, and the Union grudges no comfort, or 
even luxury, to her armies. But they become 
"demoralized" (the word is a cant one now) 
surprisingly fast, and recover from such depres- 
sion very, very slowly. When the moment for 
action arrives, such men get fresh heart in the 
first excitement, but they lack stability, and if 
any sudden check ensues, involving change of 
ground to the rear, a few minutes are enough to 
turn a retreat into a rout. You may send forth 
your volunteer, with all the pomp and circum- 

'- It is well to remember, that, before the Committee for in- 
quiring into the conduct of the war. Generals McDowell and 
Eosecrans, in the most explicit terms, attributed many disasters 
to the fact, of the soldiers having no confidence in the oflacers 
who led them. 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT. 245 

stance of war, and greet his return with all enthu- 
siasm of welcome ; you may make him the hero 
of paragraph and tale (I believe it is treasonable 
to choose any other je^me p'emier for a love story 
just now) ; you may put a flag into his hand, 
more riddled and shot-torn than any of our old 
Peninsular standards ; you may salute him " vet- 
eran," a month after the first baptism of fire ; but 
the savor of the conscript and the citizen will cling 
to him still. 

What would you have ? The esprit de corps, 
which has more or less been kept alive in civilized 
armies since the days of the Tenth Legion, is, 
perforce, wanting here. All military organization 
is posterior to the War of Independence. It is 
certainly not their fault if even the regular battal- 
ions can inscribe on their colors no nobler name 
than that of some desultory Mexican or Border bat- 
tle. If Australia should become an empire, she 
must carry the same blank ensigns without shame. 
But when a regiment has no traditionary honors 
to guard, it lacks a powerful deterrent from self- 
disgrace. 

It is easy to deride martinets and pipe-clay : all 
the drill in Christendom will not make a good 
soldier out of a weakling or a coward ; but, unless 
you can turn men into machines, so far as to make 
them act independently of individual thought or 
volition, you can never depend on a body of non- 



246 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

fatalists for advancing steadily, irrespective of 
what may be in their front ; nor for keeping their 
ranks unbroken under a hail of fire, or on a sink- 
ing ship. As skirmishers, the Federal soldiers act 
admirably ; and in several instances have carried 
fortified positions v^ith much dash and daring ; it 
is in line of battle, on a stricken field, that they 
are — to say the least — uncertain. In spite of the 
highly-colored pictures of charges, &c., I do not 
believe that, from the very beginning of this war, 
any one battalion has actually crossed bayonets 
with another, though they may often have come 
within ten yards of collision. This fact (which 
I have taken some trouble to verify) is surely suf- 
ciently significant. 

The parallels of our own Parliamentary army, 
and of the French levies after the first Revolution, 
suggest themselves naturally here ; but they will 
not quite hold good. The stern fanatics who fol- 
lowed Cromwell went to their work — whether of 
fighting or prayer — with all their heart, and soul, 
and strength, conning the manual not less studi- 
ously than the psalter, while their General would 
devote himself for days together to the minutest 
duties of a drill-sergeant. With all this, and with 
his ** trust in Providence," it was long before the 
wary Oliver would bring his Ironsides fairly face 
to face, 

"With the travos of Alsatia and the pages of Whitehall. 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT. 247 

It is true that the Eevolutionary army of '93 
was utterly different from those, wherein the 
Maison du Koi took the right of the line. It was 
hastily raised, and loosely constructed, out of rude 
material perilous to handle. But — putting aside 
that military aptitude inherent in every French- 
man — in all ranks there was a leaven of veterans 
strong enough to keep the turbulent conscripts in 
order, though the aristocratic element of authority 
was wanting. Traditions of subordination and 
discipline survived in an army, not the less thor- 
oughly French, because it was rabidly Republican. 
The recruits liked to feel themselves soldiers ; they 
were willing to give up for awhile the pageantry of 
war, but not its decorum ; and, in that implicit 
obedience to their officers, there mingled a sturdy 
plebeian pride ; they would not allow that it was 
harder to follow the wave of Colonel Bonhomme's 
sabre, than that of Marshal de Montmorenci's baton ; 
or that the word of command rang out more effi- 
ciently from the patrician's dainty lips, than from 
under the rough moustaches of the proletarian. 

The regular army here does little to help the 
volunteer service, beyond giving subalterns as field- 
officers (a lieutenant would rarely be satisfied with 
a troop or a company) ; the rank is, of course, 
temporary, though sometimes substantiated by 
brevet. It is possible, that a few non-commission- 
ed officers may be found, who have served in a sim- 



248 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

ilar or subordinate capacity in the regular army 
during the Mexican war ; but such exceptions are 
too rare to affect the civism of the entire force. 

True it is, that the Federal levies have to face 
enemies not a whit superior in discipline. Indeed, 
Harry Wynd's motto, " I fight for mine own hand," 
is especially favored in the South. But when one 
side is battling for independence, the other for sub- 
jugation, there must ever be an essential difierence 
in the spirit animating their armies. The im- 
petuosity of the Confederate onset is acknowledged 
even here : on several occasions it has been marked 
by a wild energy and recklessness of life, worthy 
to be compared with the Highland charge, which 
swept away dragoon and musketeer at Killiecran- 
kie and Prestonpans. 

I am not disposed to question the hardihood or 
endurance of the Yankee militant ; nor even to 
deny that a sense of patriotism may have much 
to do with his dogged determination to persevere, 
now, even to the end : but as for enthusiasm — you 
must look for it in the romances of w^ar that crowd 
the magazines, or in the letters of vividly imagina- 
tive correspondents, or — anywhere but among the 
Federal rank and file. Such a feclhig is utterly 
foreign to the national character ; nor have I seen 
a trace of it in any one of the many soldiers with 
whom I have spoken of the w^ar. All the high- 
flown sentiment of the Times or Tribune will not 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT. 249 

prevent the Yankee private from looking at his 
duty in a hard, practical, business-like way ; he is 
disposed to give his country its money's worth, 
and does so, as a rule, very fairly ; but military 
ardor in the States is not exactly a consuming fiie 
at this moment. The hundred-dollar bounty has 
failed for some time to fill up the gaps made by 
death or desertion : and the strong remedy of the 
Conscription Act will not be employed a day too 
soon. Perhaps those who augur favorably for 
Northern success expect that coerced levies will 
fight more fiercely and endure more cheerfully than 
the mustered-out volunteers. Qui vivra terra. 

It is simple j ustice, to allow that the native sol- 
diers have borne themselves, as a rule, better than 
the aliens. The Irish Brigade — reduced to a skel- 
eton, now, by the casualties of two years — has 
performed good service under Meagher, who him- 
self has done much to redeem the ridicule incurred 
in early days; but the Germans have not been 
distinguished either for discipline, or daring. The 
Eleventh Division, whose shameful rout at Chan- 
cellorville is still in every one's mouth, was almost 
exclusively a " Dutch " corps. 

But other difficulties beset a Federal General, 
besides the intractabilHy of his armed material, 
and the jealousies of immediate subordinates. The 
uncertainty of his position is in itself a snare. 
When the chief is first appointed, no panegyric 
11 



250 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

seems adequate to his past merit, and the glories 
are limitless that he is certain to win. If he should 
inaugurate his command with the shadow of a 
success, the Grovernment organs chant themselves 
hoarse in praise and prophecy. But the popular 
hero knows right well, that the ground is already 
mined under his feet ; the first reverse will drag 
him down into a pit of obscurity, if not of odium, 
deep and dark as Abiram's grave. Of all task- 
masters, a Democracy is the most pitilessly irra- 
tional ; it were better for an unfaithful or unlucky 
servant to fall into Pharaoh's hands, than to lie at 
the mercy of a free and enlightened people. Dem- 
agogues, and the crowds they sway, are just as 
impatient and impulsive now, as when the mob of 
the Agora cheered the bellowing of Cleon ; neither 
is their wrath less clamorous because it has ceased 
to lap blood. A Federal chief must be very san- 
guine or very short sighted, who, beyond the glare 
and glitter of his new headquarters, does not mark 
the loom of Cynoscephalae. Conceive the worry, 
of feeling yourself perpetually on your promotion — 
of knowing, that by delay you risk the imputa- 
tion of cowardice or incapacity, while on the first 
decisive action must be periled the supremacy, 
that all men are so loth to surrender. The un- 
happy commander, if a literate, might often think 
of Porsena's front rank at the Bridge, when 

Those in the rear cried, ** Forward," 
Those in the van cried, "Back." 



A POPULAR ARMAMENT 251 

To few minds is allotted such a temperate and 
steady strength as would enable a man, thus tried 
and tempted, to weigh all chances calmly ; de- 
termined to strike, only when the time should 
come ; disregarding the extravagant expectations 
alike of friend or foe ; shrinking no more from the 
responsibilities of unavoidable failure, than from 
any other personal dangers. If such a chief could 
once fairly grasp the staff of command, a virtual 
dictatorship might work great things for the 
North. But whence is he likely to emerge ? 
Hardly from the midst of this vast political and 
military turmoil, where every man is struggling 
and straining to clutch at the veriest shred of 
power. 

Hooker has fared better than his fellows in 
misfortune. The Washington Cabinet, usually 
ready enough to make sacrifices to popular indig- 
nation, still stand by their discomfited favorite with 
creditable firmness. Even before the army crossed 
the river, there appeared significant articles in the 
Government organs, begging tho public to be pa- 
tient and moderate in anticipation. The press- 
prophets, who indulged in the most magnificent 
sketches of what ought to be done, were those, 
with whose patriotic regrets over defeat, would 
mingle some exultation over a disgraced political 
opponent. So people in general seem content to 
give the Fighting One another chance, 



252 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

This unusual clemency may be easily accounted 
for. It would be almost impossible to pitch on 
any one with the slightest pretensions to fill the 
vacated path. If you except Rosecrans, and per- 
haps Franklin, there is hardly a Division leader 
who has not, at one time or another, betrayed 
incapacity enough to disqualify him from holding 
any important command. West Point may send 
forth as good theoretical soldiers as Sandhurst, or 
St. Cyr, while the practical experience of Ameri- 
can Generals might equal that of our own officers 
before the Crimean war ; but the best from West 
Point have gone southward long ago, and by the 
retirement of McClellan the North lost, probably, 
her one promising strategist. Cool and provident 
in the formation of his plans, though somewhat 
unready in their execution, and scarcely equal to 
sudden emergencies, if he achieved no brilliant 
success, he was likely to steer clear of grave dis- 
aster. The dearth of tacticians is made very man- 
ifest, by the list of candidates suggested in the 
event of Hooker's removal from command. 

There are horses, invariably beaten in public, 
which never appear without being heavily backed ; 
and there are men, who contrive to retain a cer- 
tain number of partisans, zealous enough to ignore 
all patent demerits, and to give their favorite 
credit for any amount of possible unproved ca- 
pacity. Yet one would have thought the Repub- 



A POPULAB ARMAMENT. 253 

licans might have hesitated in bringing forward 
Fremont, who has already been removed for 
blunders hardly to be excused by ignorance ; and 
though the name of Sickles is, unhappily, well 
known in Europe, it is somewhat startling to find 
him, so early in the day, aspirant to the highest 
military honors. His advocate admits that the 
latter hero's professional opportunities have been 
scanty, but, says he, placidly, " Neither was Caesar 
bred a soldier." If the sentence was written in 
sobriety, no praise can be too high for the audacity 
of that superb comparison. Another patriot was 
exceedingly anxious that General Halleck should 
be incontinently removed from the War Office, to 
make room for — Butler. We accept these things 
calmly now; for repeated proof has taught us, 
that world-wide infamy bars no man's road to 
profit and honor, when Black Republicans weigh 
the merits of the claimant. The Abolitionist 
organs of that same week contained glowing 
accounts of McNeil's exploits in Missouri, and 
announced with much satisfaction an accession to 
Negley's Brigade in the shape of Colonel Turchin. 
I quote the words : " He was received with great 
delight, and will, n J- doubt, do good service, if 
allowed. It will be remembered that he was 
court-martialed some time since, for punishing 
guerrillas." 

Atrocities have been so rife here of late, that 



254 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

even wholesale murder and ravishment have a 
chance of being lost in the crowd: in any other 
civilized land than this, that reminder might well 
have been spared. 

Surely the Confederates in the Southwest have 
two prizes now before them, well worth the win- 
ning ; but in the front of battle Tarquin is seldom 
found, and in the rout they must ride far and fast 
who would reach his shoulders with the steel. 
The real perils of these men will begin when the 
war is done ; the hot Southern vendetta will cool 
strangely, if all the three shall die in their beds. 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 255 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 

There is one very vexed question, the import- 
ance of which, both in the present and for the 
future, can hardly be overestimated. It does not 
depend on the vicissitudes, the duration, or even 
the termination of the v^^ar : rather it will become 
more gravely complicated as prospects of peace 
dawn clearer. 

In which direction do the sympathies and inter- 
ests of the Border States actually tend ? Let it be 
understood that the point to be decided is — not 
whether the Democrats in those parts are politi- 
cally stronger than their Republican opponents; 
but whether the popular feeling identifies itself 
with North or South ; whether an uncoerced vote 
of the majority would be in favor of or hostile to 
the Union ; finally, on which side of the frontier- 
line, in case of separation, the State would fain 
abide. 

It seems to me that only personal knowledge 
and experience can enable an alien to form any 
accurate opinion on these points ; even where the 



256 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

press is not forced to grumble out discontent with 
bated breath, under terror of martial law, party 
spirit runs so high as to render statements, writ- 
ten or spoken, barely reliable ; sound, deeply as 
you will, into these turbid wells, it is a rare chance 
if you touch truth, after all. So, of Tennessee, 
Missouri, or Kentucky, I will not say a word, but 
for the same reasons I may venture to hazard more 
than a guess at the sympathies of Maryland. 

Notwithstanding her superficial extent is com- 
paratively small, there can be no question which 
of the Border States enters most importantly into 
the calculations of both the belligerent powers; 
the weight of interests and wealth of resources 
that Maryland carries with her — to say nothing of 
her local advantages — are such that she cannot 
eventually be allowed to adhere to either side 
with a lukewarm or divided fidelity. 

The position I am about to advance will meet 
with a certain amount of dissent, if not of incredu- 
lity, and some one will probably j^oint at recent 
events as furnishing an unanswerable contradic- 
tion to much that I affirm. I will only pray my 
readers to believe that I have tried hard to cast 
prejudice aside in listening, in marking, and in 
recording ; my opportunities of forming a delib- 
erate judgment on the sympathies of all classes in 
this es|)ecial State were such as have fallen to the 
lot of very few strangers ; and my observations 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 967 

ought J certainly, to have been the more accurate, 
from their field having been necessarily narrowed. 
Perhaps I can hardly do better than reprint here 
the larger portion of a letter, written in the mid- 
dle of last March, to the " Morning Post ; " nothing 
that has occurred since induces me materially to 
modify any one of the opinions expressed therein. 
Though, in common with many others, I may have 
regretted the disappointment of our anticipations 
with regard to a general rising, in co-operation 
with the Southern invaders ; I think it is easy to 
show that there were reasons sufficient to account 
for, if not excuse, this second apparent supineness. 

*'I believe that at home people have a very 
faint — perhaps a very false — idea of how men 
think, and act, and suffer, in this same Border 
State. Your impression may be that a lethargy 
prevails, where, in reality, dangerous fever is the 
disease — a fever that must one day break out 
violently, in spite of the quack medicines adminis- 
tered by an incapable Grovernment — in spite of the 
restrictions unsparingly employed by that grim 
sick-nurse, martial law. 

*' I fancy the world is hardly aware of the hearty 
sympathy with the South — the intense antipathy 
to the North — which animates at this moment the 
vast majority of Marylanders. I have heard more 
than one assert that of the two alternatives, he 
would infinitely prefer becoming again a colonial 



258 BORDER AND BASTILLE 

subject of England to remaining a member of the 
Federal Union. Tiiis sounds like an exaggeration ; I 
believe it to have been simply the truth, strongly- 
stated. I believe that the partisan spirit is as rife 
and as bitter in many parts of this State, as it can 
be in South Carolina or Georgia. 

** A remarkable instance of this popular feeling 
occurred last week, at a large sale in How^ard 
county. The late proprietor, an Irishman by 
descent, belonging to one of the old Roman 
Catholic families that have been territorial mag- 
nates here for generations, had a great fancy for 
dividing his land into small holdings, rented by 
men of proportionately small means, so as to 
establish a sort of English tenant-system, involv- 
ing, of course, much free labor. It would have 
been hard to select a spot in that country where 
the abolition feeling would be more likely to pre- 
vail. On the present occasion about six hundred 
farmers and others were assembled. They were 
Southerners to a man ; at least, no one hinted at 
dissent when Jefferson Davis's health and more 
violent Southern toasts were drunk amidst a storm 
of cheers. 

"Twice has Maryland been taunted with her 
inaction, if not charged with deliberate treachery ; 
first when, at the outbreak of the war, she did not 
openly secede ; again, when she did not second by 
a general rising Lee's invasion of her boundary. 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 259 

It would be well to remember that for Maryland 
to declare herself, before Virginia had actually 
done so, would have been the insanity of rashness. 
She could hardly be expected to defy the vengeance 
of the North, while cut off by a neutral State from 
Southern aid, especially since Governor Hicks' 
measures of disarmament, by which not only the 
militia but private individuals were deprived of 
their firelocks. Virginia has fought so gallantly 
since then, that it is easy to forget her tardiness in 
drawing the sword ; but it would be vain to deny 
that on the southern bank of the Potomac there 
does exist a certain jealousy, arising probably from 
conflicting commercial interests, which has led to 
suspicion and misconception already, and may lead 
to more harm yet. General Lee issued his procla- 
mation inviting Maryland to rise only one day be- 
fore he commenced his retreat — short notice, 
surely, for a revolution involving not only the 
temporary ruin of many interests, but the certainty 
of collision with a Federal army of one hundred 
and twenty thousand men then within the border 
of the State. Had Maryland joined the Con- 
federacy a year ago, I believe her entire territory 
would be desolate now, as are most great battle- 
fields. With tlie immense means of naval trans- 
port at the Federals' command, it would be easy 
for them to land any number of troops in almost 
any part of the western division, for the whole 



260 BOEDER AND BASTILLE. 

country is intersected by the creeks of the Chesa- 
peake Bay and its tributary rivers. One glance atthe 
map will show this more plainly than verbal de- 
scription, and make it needless to remark on the 
still more exposed and isolated position of the 
Eastern Shore. 

" In spite of all this, men say that if the op- 
portunity were once m^ore given, the blade 
would be drawn in earnest, and the scabbard 
thrown away. It may well be so ; there has been 
oppression and provocation enough of late to make 
the scale turn once and forever. 

" Meantime, Maryland has not confined herself 
to a suppressed sympathy with the South. We 
may guess, perhaps, but no one will ever know, 
the extent of the covert assistance already render- 
ed by this State to the Confederacy. I am not re- 
ferrinor to the constant reinforcements of her best 
and bravest — over twelve thousand, it is said — 
that have never ceased to feed the ranks of the 
Southern armies. 

*' One significant fact is worth mentioning, 
drawn from the reports of Federal officers — viz., 
out of nine thousand Marylanders drafted into the 
service, there are scarcely one hundred now remain- 
ing in the ranks ; they deserted, literally, by bands. 

" I speak of supplies of all sorts, especially 
medicines, furnished perpetually ; of valuable in- 
formation forwarded as to the enemy's movements 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 261 

and intentions ; of Confederate prisoners tended 
with every care, and supplied with every comfort 
that womanly tenderness could devise ; of a hun- 
dred other marks of substantial friendship that 
could not only be rendered by a nominal neutral, 
but a real ally. It would be hard, indeed, if any 
miserable jealousies were to prevent all this frorn 
being appreciated and rewarded some day. 

" The Federal Grovernment, at least, does ample 
justice to the proclivities of Maryland. The sys- 
tem of coercion, hourly more and more stringent, 
speaks for itself The State is at this moment sub- 
jected to a military despotism more irritating and 
oppressive than was ever exercised by Austria in 
her Italian dependencies ; more irritating, because 
domestic interference and all sorts of petty annoy- 
ances are more frequent here ; more oppressive, be- 
cause it is considered unnecessary to indulge a 
political prisoner with even the mockery of a trial. 
Nothing is too small for the gripe of the Provost 
Marshal's myrmidons. There was a general order 
last week for the seizure of all Southern songs and 
photographs of Confederate celebrities. One con- 
vivial cheer for Jefferson Davis brought the ' stray- 
ed reveler ' the following morning into the awful 
presence of Colonel Fish, there to be favored with 
one of his characteristic diatribes. The duties of 
that truculent potentate are doubtless both diffi- 
cult and disagreeable, yet one would think it pos- 



262 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

sible for an officer to act energetically without 
ignoring the common courtesies of life, and to 
maintain rigid discipline without constantly emu- 
lating the army that swore terribly in Flanders. 
The oath of allegiance — that is the touchstone 
whose mark gives everything its marketable value. 
The Union flag must wave over every spot — 
chapel, mart, institute, or ball-room — where two 
or three may meet together ; and beyond the 
shadow of the enforced ensign there is little safety 
or comfort for man, woman, or child — for women 
least of all. 

" During the past week two ladies of this city 
have been arraigned on the charge of aiding and 
abetting deserters from the Federal army. In the 
first case, the offense was having given a very 
trifling alms, after much solicitation and many re- 
fusals, to a man who represented himself and 
his family as literally starving. The fugitive made 
his way to Canada, and thence wrote two begging 
letters, threatening, if money were not sent, to de- 
nounce his benefactress. Eventually he did so* 
This lady is to be separated from her husband and 
family, with whom she is now residing, and sent 
across the lines in a few days. In the second case 
I am justified in mentioning names, as from the 
peculiar circumstances it will probably become 
more public. Mrs. Grace is the widow of a 
Havana merchant, and a naturalized subject of 



THE DEBATABLE GKOUND. 263 

Spain, to whose Minister she has since appealed. 
She was summoned before the Provost Marshal on 
the same charge, but was too ill to attend in 
person. Her daughter went to the office, and 
found that the evidence against her mother was an 
intercepted letter from some person (whose name 
was equally unknown to Mrs. Grace as to the 
officials), telling his wife ' to go to that lad}^, who 
would take care of her.' Miss Grace represented 
the extreme hardship of the case ; they had no 
friends or connections in the South, and her 
mother's health was far from strong. Finally, she 
gave her own positive assurance that there was 
not the faintest foundation for the charge. 
Colonel Fish did not scruple to reply ' that he 
considered an anonymous document evidence ' 
strong enough to bear down a lady's proffi^red 
word of honor. If, after this provocation, the 
spirit of the fair pleader was roused, and she spoke 
somewhat unadvisedly with her lips, few will be 
disposed to impute to her anything more than im- 
prudence. The Provost Marshal closed the dis- 
cussion very promptly and decidedly — * Your 
mother will go South within the fortnight ; and 
you, for your insolence, will accompany her. ' 
When women and weaklings are before them, the 
argumentum hacculinum seems favored by the Re- 
publican chivalry. 

" The country is not much better off than the 



2G4 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

city. The same system of espionage and coercion 
prevails there ; especially since that fatal procla- 
mation has sown distrust between master and 
slave, it is hard to say how many spies there may 
be in any man's household. Large landed pro- 
prietors, who have shown no sign of Southern 
proclivity, beyond abstaining from taking the oath, 
cannot obtain the commonest necessaries, such as 
groceries, &c., without resorting to shifts and 
stratagems that would be absurd, if they were not 
so painful. Such trammels are far more galling 
to the purely agricultural class than they are to 
the inhabitants of a city like this, where commerce 
has introduced a large mixed element, embracing 
not only Northerners, but almost every European 
race. 

" But, in spite of all privations and annoyances, 
there is in the Marylander just now an honest earn- 
estness of purpose, a readiness for self-sacrifice, a 
patient hardihood, a brave, hopeful spirit, quick to 
chafe but slow to complain, that might make Anglo- 
Saxons feel proud of their common blood. There 
is plenty of the stuff left out of which Buchanan, 
Semmes, Maffit (of the Florida), Hollins, and 
Kelso are made — Marylanders all — who are doing 
their devoir gallantly on the decks of Southern 
war-shijTs. I cannot believe that the day is far 
distant when both moral and physical energy will 
have free and fair play. 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 265 

'* The ties of mutual interest that bind this 
State to the Confederacy are too obvious to need 
much explanation, but it may be well to touch upon 
them briefly. Her extensive water-power marks 
out Maryland as eminently adapted for the produce 
of all kinds of manufactures. That very accessi- 
bility from seaward, which is her weak point in 
war time, is her strength in time of peace. The 
Chesapeake and its tributaries are natural high 
roads for the transport of freight to the ports of 
Virginia, and thence into the interior. Before 
these troubles, the trade of Maryland was almost 
exclusively with the South ; and, unless violently 
diverted, it must always remain so. The South is 
now straining every nerve to establish a formid- 
able steam-navy. It is not too much to say that 
the adhesion of Maryland is absolutely indispens- 
able if this object is to be attained. She can not 
only offer superb harbors, in which the South is 
palpably deficient, but her natural productions — 
ship timber, iron ore (the largest and toughest 
plates in the United States are hammered here), 
and bituminous coal, the best for steam purposes 
south of Nova Scotia — would be invaluable." 

With this State the South would retain all the 
mat.jrial advantages that the restoration of the 
Union could offer ; without her, neither would the 
terriiorial line be complete, nor the internal re- 
sour. )S adequate to the requirements of a powerful 
12 



266 . BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

nation. President Davis has repeatedly promised 
that the free vote of Maryland as to her future 
shall be one of the prime conditions of any treaty 
whatsoever, and the Southern Congress have con 
firmed this by a nearly unanimous vote. On this 
point there surely ought to be no doubt or waver- 
ing. A single concession to the arbitrary tenden- 
cies of Lincoln's Cabinet, so as to allow interfer- 
ence with the free expression of Maryland's will 
when the crisis shall arrive, would not only, I 
believe, crush the hopes of the vast majority of this 
State's inhabitants, but also betray the yital inter- 
est of the Southern Confederacy in days to come. 

If further proof were needed of the Southern 
sympathy prevalent in Baltimore, such would be 
found in the measures of coercion and prevention 
employed by General Schenck, when Lee's army 
was thought dangerously near. A private letter 
dispatched to me in the height of the panic, more 
than confirmed the accounts in public prints of the 
stringency of the martial law. The Federal offi- 
cers were, perhaps, not sorry to have such a 
chance of repaying, with aggravated oppression, 
the tacit contumely which must have galled them 
for a year and more. The Maryland Club, whose 
members are Southerners to a man (for the Union- 
ist element was eliminated long ago), is now the 
headquarters of a New England regiment, and even 
Colonel Fish may now wander at will through the 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 2G7 

cool, pleasant chambers that, before comparative 
liberty was stifled, he would have found not more 
accessible than the lost paradise of Sultan Zim. I 
greatly fear that some of those daring dames and 
damsels, so careless in dissembling their antipa- 
thies, may, ere this, have been made to pay a 
heavy price for the indulgence of past disdain. 
The position of a Federal officer, in Baltimore, was 
certainly far from enviable ; many men would have 
preferred the lash of a cutting whip, or even a 
slight flesh-wound, to the sidelong glances that, 
when a dark-blue uniform passed by, interpreted 
so eloquently the fair Secessionists' repugnance 
and scorn. Neither were words always wanting 
to convey a covert insult. I heard rather an 
amusing instance of this while I was in j)rison. 

It was at the time when Brigadier-Generals w\ere 
being created by scores (I myself counted over 
sixty names sent down by the President to Con- 
gress in one batch), w^hen, according to some 
"Washington Pasquin, a stone, thrown at a night- 
prowling dog in Pennsylvania avenue, struck three 
of these fresh-fledged eagles : a Baltimorian lionne 
entered one of the street railway cars, in which 
two or three Federal officers were already seated. 
An infantry soldier got in immediately afterwards, 
and, in taking his place, set his boot accidentally 
on the silken verge of a far-flowing robe. The 
lady gazed on the unconscious offender for a min- 



268 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

ute or so, and spake no word ; then, looking be- 
yond him as though he had never been, she 
addressed the conductor with the pretty plaintive- 
ness affected by those languid Southern beauties : 

" Sir, won't you ask that Brigadier-General to 
take his foot off the skirt of my dress V 

Which position was the most enviable at that 
moment — the " full private's " or that of his silent 
superiors ? 

It was curious to remark how thoroughly the 
majority of clergymen, of all denominations, but 
especially Koman Catholic priests, identified them- 
selves with the Southern sympathies of their flock. 
Arrests of these reverend men were very common; 
but they held their way undauntedly, and *' kept 
silence even from good words " only under the 
pressure of actual coercion. Another anecdote is 
worth relating. 

One day there came forth an edict, peremptory 
as that which bade all nations and languages bow 
down to a golden image, enjoining that, on a cer- 
tain day, Sabbath-prayers for the President should 
be offered up in every church, chapel, and meeting- 
house in Baltimore. There was an ancient Epis- 
copalian divine, who during nearly half a century 
had won for himself much affection and respect 
by a zealous and kindly discharge of his duties. 
A notorious Secessionist, he was wise and prudent 
withal, so that many were curious to hear how 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 269 

he would execute or evade the obnoxious order. 
He complied with it — in this wise : 

" My brethren," said he, " we are commanded 
this day to intercede with the Ahnighty for the 
President. Let us pray. May the Lord have 
mercy on Abraham Lincoln's soul." 

Did ever priest pronounce a blessing more 
grimly like a ban ? 

Perhaps it was well that Lee did not advance 
near enough to Baltimore to bring things to a 
climax there, unless he could have succeeded in 
capturing the place by a coui? de mai?i, and have 
held it permanently. Independently of Schenck's 
avowed intention of shelling the town, on the first 
symptoms of disaffection, from the forts of Consti- 
tution and McHenry, there might have been wild 
work there in more ways than one. If the Seces- 
sionists had once fairly risen against their oppress- 
ors and not prevailed, it is difficult to say where the 
measures of savage retaliation would have ended. 
I do not like to think of the possible brutality 
that might have lighted on many hospitable house- 
holds in blood-shedding or rapine. 

So much for the city. I have mentioned above 
some of the reasons that make an up-rising 
throughout the State so exceedingly difficult and 
dangerous to organize. That no active aid was 
rendered to Lee's army upon the last occasion of 
its crossing the frontier, is, I think, easily ex- 



270 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

plained, when the peculiar circumstances of time 
and place are considered. 

Southern proclivity is by no means so general 
in the northwestern counties of Maryland as in 
the eastern region, or on the seaboard. The 
farmers in the former parts suifer greatly from the 
ceaseless incursions over the border. When cattle 
are to be driven away, it is feared that even regular 
"raiders" and guerrillas are not over-careful to 
ascertain the sympathies of the owner. The 
horse-thieves, of course, are absolutely indifferent 
whether they plunder friend or foe. Now, though 
the Marylander is far from being imbued with the 
exclusively commercial spirit of the Yankee, it is 
not unnatural that he should chafe under these 
repeated assaults on his purse, if not on his person. 
All such considerations vanish in the fierce energy 
of the thorough partisan, who, without grudging 
or remorse, casts the axe-head after the helve ; 
but I speak, now, of men whose sympathies at 
the commencement of the war were almost 
neutral, and who began to suffer in the way 
above described before the bias of feeling had 
time to determine itself. It was surely natural 
that the first angry impulses should turn the 
wavering scale ; more especially when the irrita- 
tion was constantly being renewed. 

Beyond these northwestern counties, in neither 
inroad, did the Confederate army advance. I was 



THE DEBATABLE GROUND. 271 

not much surprised at reading in the able letter 
of the Times correspondent, how the Southerners 
were disappointed by meeting all along their 
brief line of march gloomy faces and sullen dis- 
like, instead of a hearty welcome ; for I knew that 
in the neighborhood of Hagerstown, Boones- 
borough, and all round South Mountain, the ma- 
jority of the inhabitants were — to use my Irish- 
man's expression — as " black as thunder." 

One glance at the field of the recent operations 
will show, that the isolated Secessionists in the 
southeastern counties could do little more than 
pray for the success of the Confederate arms : 
even detached bodies of such sympathizers could 
not have joined Lee, without running the gauntlet 
of the Federal forces lying right across the path. 

It should not be forgotten, that the stakes of 
the invader and of the insurgent differ widely 
The former, if worsted, can fall back on his own 
ground, with no other damage than the actual loss 
sustained. The latter, if foiled, must calculate on 
absolute ruin — if not on worse miseries. Even 
if he should himself escape scathless beyond the 
frontier, he must leave homestead and family 
behind — to be dealt with as chattels and kindred 
of traitors fare. 

Thus, though I am disposed to think more de- 
spondingly than before of Maryland's chances of 
aiding herself, for the present, with the armed 



272 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

hand, my conviction remains unchanged as to the 
proclivities of the majority other population, both 
civic and agricultural. I do honestly believe thai, 
in despite of the tempting geographical water-line, 
the natural place of the State is in the Southern 
Confederacy. And I do also believe, that the 
denial of a free vote as to her future, and a 
coerced adhesion to the Northern Union, would 
involve, not only the ruin of many important in- 
terests, political and commercial, but an exodus 
of more influential residents, than has occurred 
in any civilized land, since the Revolutionary 
storm drove thousands of patrician emigrants over 
every frontier of France. 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 273 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SLAVERY AND THE V^AR, 



Every one in anyv^ise interested, practically or 
theoretically, in the Great War, is just nov^ pro- 
phesying of the future, simply because it looks 
vaguer and dimmer than ever. So I will hazard 
my guess at truth before all is done. 

I am no more capable of giving a valid opinion 
as to the chances or resources of the South than if 
I had never left these English shores. Proximity 
that is not positive presence, rather embarrasses 
one's judgment, for the nearer you approach the 
frontier-line, the more you become bewildered in 
the maze of exaggerated reports, direct contradic- 
tions, and conflicting statistics. Judging from 
individual cases, and from the spirit animating the 
" sympathizers " on the hither side of the border, I 
feel sure that the bitter determination of the South 
to hold out to the last man and the last ounce of 
corn-bread, has not been in the least overstated j 
but as to the aspect of chances, or as to the actual 
loss or gain achieved by either side up to this 
moment, I am no more qualified to speak than any 
careful student of the war-chronicles. It is from con- 
12* 



274 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

sideration of the present and probable strength or 
weakness of Federaldom, that I should draw the 
grounds of any opinion that I might hazard. 

I think both are generally under-estimated. In 
spite of the resistance offered in many places to 
the Conscription Act, it is likely that for some 
time to come the North will always be able to 
bring into the field armies numerically far superior 
to those of her adversary ; not do I believe that 
she will have exclusively to depend on raw or 
enforced levies. Many of the three-year men and 
others, whose term of volunteer service has just 
expired, after a brief rest and experience of home 
monotony, will begin to long for excitement again, 
though accompanied by peril and hardship. To 
such the extravagant bounty will be a great temp- 
tation, and the Government may not be far wrong 
in calculating on the re-enlistment of a large per- 
centage of the " veterans." Besides, it should 
always be remembered that if it comes to wear- 
ing one another out in the drain of life, the pre- 
ponderance of twenty millions against four must 
tell fearfully, even though the willingness to serve 
on the one side should equal the reluctance on the 
other. Neither do I think that national bank- 
ruptcy is so imminent over the Northern States, 
,as some would have it. Mr. Chase is, of course, a 
perilously reckless financier; but, on more than 
one occasion, audacity has served him well, when 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 275 

prudent sagacity could have been of little aid: the 
" Five-and-Twenty " Loan was certainly eminently 
successful, and the tough, broad back of Yankee- 
land will bear more burdens yet before it breaks 
or bends. I am speaking now solely of the 
resources which can be made available for carry- 
ing on the war: these, I think, will be found 
sufficient for its probable duration. With the 
commercial future or national credit of the North- 
ern States this question has nothing to do ; it is 
not difficult to foresee how both must mevitably 
be compromised by the load of debt which swells 
portentously with every hour of warfaring. But 
if we have been wont to undervalue the strength 
of Federaldom, latent and displayed, we have per- 
haps scarcely realized how very unsubstantial and 
slippery are its presumed points of vantage. 

First, take the North great battle or, rather, 
stalking-horse — Abolition . 

Let no reader be here unnecessarily alarmed. 
On that terrible slave question, over which wiser 
brains have puzzled, till they became lost in a 
labyrinth of self-contradiction, I pui-pose to speak 
only a few cursory words. It is beyond dispute 
that a vast extent of the richest land in the South 
can only be kept in cultivation by the Africans, 
who can thrive and fatten where the white man 
withers helplessly. No one that has realized the 
present state of our own West Indian colonies, 



276 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

will believe that the enfranchised negro can be 
depended upon as a daily laborer for hire. The 
listless indolence inherent in all tropical races will 
assert itself, as soon as free agency begins or is 
restored. "With a bright sun overhead, and a 
sufficiency of sustenance for the day before him, 
money will not tempt Sambo to toil among cotton 
or canes, should the spirit move him to lie under 
his own vine or fig-tree ; and he is unfortunately 
peculiarly liable to these lazy fits just when his 
services are most vitally important to the interests 
of his employer. From so much ground having 
been thrown out of cultivation in the West Indies, 
the supply of free negro labor is perhaps now 
nearly equal to the ordinary demand; but we all 
know how, in the early times of emancipation, the 
fortunes of our planters fared. There has been, 
in all ages, certain cases of apparent political neces- 
sity, hardly to be justified — sometimes hardly to be 
defended — on purely moral grounds. Whether the 
existence and maintenance of a slave population in 
the South be one of these huge dilemmas or para- 
doxes is a question that any English or Northern 
abolitionist is about as capable of determining, as 
he would be of legislating for Mangolian Tartary. 
The two blackest points in all the dark system — 
for dark it is, looking at it how you will — are 
first, the complication of sin and shame arising 
from the mixture of the races ; and, secondly, the 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 277 

separation of husband and wife from each other, 
and from their infant families, by sale. I do firmly 
believe that the recurrence of the former evil be- 
comes rarer every day, for advance of civilization 
only seems to strengthen the natural repugnance — 
with which moral sentiment has nothing to do — 
existing between the Anglo-Saxon and African 
blood. 

The subject is not a pleasant one to dilate upon, 
but that such a repugnance does exist, few that 
have been brought into actual contact with the 
*' colored" element en masse, will be inclined to 
deny. I think some of those scientific philoso- 
phers who write volumes to prove that there is no 
physical difference between the races, would feel 
their theories strangely modified after such a prac- 
tical trial. If this be an immutable fact, it may 
work in the South for the prevention of evil as 
well as of good ; in the North it can only work 
for bitter harm. In Delaware, where the free 
negroes are found in unusually large proportions 
to the whites, they are notoriously more hardly 
treated than in any other State of the original 
Union ; and fanaticism must be blind and deaf 
indeed if recent events in New York have not 
taught it to doubt whether the tender mercies of 
the Abolitionists are so gentle, after all. While 
things are so (and there is scant hope of their 
changing within many generations) the position 



278 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

of the black freedman in the North will never be 
much higher than that of the Chinese in Califor- 
nia, where a scintilla of civil rights is the utmost 
that the unhappy aliens can claim. In the South, 
I do greatly fear, there is no alternative between 
suppression and subjugation. 

There is no reason why the second great evil — 
the separation of families (under a certain age) 
should not be entirely removed by proper legis- 
lation ; and I believe measures to this effect have 
already been mooted in more than one of the 
slaveholding States. Putting these two points 
aside, I believe that the condition of the slave — 
especially where the *' patriarchal " system pre- 
vails — is infinitely better than that of the coolies : 
the unutterable hori'ors and waste of life in the 
Chincha Islands have never been matched in Ken- 
tucky or Louisiana. I believe that the whole roll 
of authenticated cruelties exercised on the negroes 
in any one year would be outnumbered and out- 
done by the brutalities practiced within the same 
time upon the apprentices in our own coast trade, 
and upon seamen — white and colored — in the 
American merchant-service. With all this it 
should be remembered that the ordinary slave- 
rations far exceed, both in quantity and quality, 
the Sunday meal of an English west-country 
laborer ; and that the comforts of all the aged and 
infirm, whom the master is, of course, obliged to 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 279 

maintain, are infinitely superior to those enjoyed 
by the like inmates of our most lenient work- 
houses. 

I think it is a mistake to suppose that the 
negroes, as a race, 'pijie for freedom ; though, when 
it is suggested to them, they may grasp at it with 
eagerness, much as they would at any other 
novelty. Many, no douht, can appreciate liberty, 
and use it as wisely and well as any freeborn 
white : gradual emancipation would be one of the 
grandest schemes that could be propounded to 
human benevolence : it is rife with difficulty, but 
surely not impracticable. The indiscriminate and 
abrupt manumission of the negro would, I am con- 
vinced, turn a quaint, simple, childish creature — 
prone to mirth, and not easily discontented if 
his indolence be not taxed too hardly, susceptible, 
too, of strong affection and fidelity to his master, 
as many recent events have shown — into a sullen, 
slothful, insolent savage, never remembering the 
past, except as a sort of vague excuse for the 
present indulgence of his brutal instincts, conscious 
that every man's hand is against him, without the 
meek patience of a pariah ; but only venturing to 
retaliate by occasional outbursts of ruffianism or 
rapine. Where a body of these men is subjected 
at once to military dicipline, and overawed by the 
presence of white soldiers in overwhelming num- 
bers, the same danger cannot exist ; yet I doubt 



280 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

gravely as to the ultimate success, in any point of 
view, of those negro levies. It seems hard to say, 
but I do think it is better for us — even for the 
sake of Christian charity — to leave that Great 
Anomaly to be dealt with by Grod in His own 
time. 

Were the cause stronger than it is, it would be 
damaged, with many moderate thinkers, by the 
absurdities and violence of its most zealous 
advocates. Ward Beecher, the great Abolition 
apostle, fairly outdoes the earlier eccentricities of 
Spurgeon ; every trick of stage eiFect — such as 
the sudden display of a white slave-child — is freely 
employed in the pulpit of Plymouth Church, and 
each successful " point " is rewarded by audible 
murmurs of applause. One fact stamps the man 
very sufficiently. In the latter part of last May, 
he was starting for a four-months' absence in 
Europe ; it was purely a pleasure trip, the expen- 
ses to be paid by " his affectionate congregation;" 
and the whole arrangements were thoroughly 
comfortable, not to say luxurious. The text of 
his last sermon was taken from Acts, chapter xx. 
18-27 — words that even an Apostle never spoke 
till, standing in the shadow of bon^s and death, 
he said farewell to saints who should never look 
upon his face any more. 

Theodore Tilton, another shining light, much 
distinguished himself by announcing that there 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 281 

was no doubt that " the negroes were destined to 
be The Church of Christ :" he founded his discov-. 
ery not so much upon the strong religious feeling 
prevalent among " colored " persons, as on that 
verse in the Songs of Solomon, where the Bride 
professes herself " black but comely." 

It would be well if such absurdities were all one 
had to record: some ebullitions of abolitionist 
zeal will hardly bear writing down. Take one in- 
stance. At a large Union meeting at Philadelphia, 
the Reverend A. H. Gilbert, speaking of the Pro- 
clamation, and its probable effects in the South, 
did not deny that it might entail a repetition of 
the San Domingo horrors on a vaster scale. 
" But," said he — " speaking calmly and as a 
Christian minister — I affirm that it would be 
better that every woman and child in the South 
should perish, than that the principles of Confed- 
erate Statesmen should prevail." 

In all that huge assembly, there was not one 
man found who — for the love of wife, or sister, or 
daughter, or mother — would rise to smite the bru- 
tal blasphemer on the mouth : nay, the Quaker 
brood cheered him to the echo. 

That same Proclamation has done less harm 
than was expected, after all. Maryland has suffer- 
ed, perhaps,- most : the whole Constitution is ren- 
dered null and void there now, without her gaining 
any European credit as a voluntary free State. The 



282 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

negroes stay or run away according to their fancy, 
and work as it suits their convenience ; the chances 
against recapture being about 1000 to 1, so it 
says something for the system, that so many have 
chosen to remain : hardly any household or do- 
mestic servants are found among the fugitives. 

Putting abolition aside, let us examine the con- 
dition of the North's " second charger " — battle- 
horse — Restoration of the Union at any cost. The 
question of the right of the Southern States to 
secede has been discussed till every European ear 
must be weary of the themlB ; so we will let the 
justice of the case alone, and only look at the wild 
improbability of any such result being achieved. 
In the North, of course, there is a strong peace- 
party ; in the South I do not think that any man 
would venture to suggest to his nearest friend any 
compromise short of the acknowledgment of the 
Confederacy as an independent nation. It is an 
utter mistake to suppose that, if the Emancipatory 
Proclamation were revoked, the road towards 
peace would be smoothed materially : it might 
have a good effect in displaying a spirit of concilia- 
tion on the part of the Federal Government — 
nothing more. The wedges that will keep the 
South apart from the North, forever, were mould- 
ed and sharpened long before they were driven 
home. For years far-seeing men, especially on the 
Border States, had provided, in their financial and 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 2S3 

domestic arrangements, for a certain disunion : 
not for the first time in history has an aristocracy 
grown up in the centre of a democracy, and, while 
the world shall last, such a state of things can 
never long endure without a collision, involving 
temporary subjugation or permanent disruption. 

The New Englander sees this just as plainly as 
the Virginian, and both have an equal pride in 
thinking that Cavalier and Roundhead are fighting 
the old battle once more. Disputes about tariffs 
and falsified compromises have only been specious 
pretexts for indulging in a spirk of antagonism, 
which was then scarcely dissembled, and can never 
be glossed over again. But the Federal Govern- 
ment are not only pursuing a mirage, in trying to 
enforce a Union which could scarcely be main- 
tained if all the South country lay depopulated and 
desolate : they are risking, every day, more peril- 
ously, the cohesion of the States that still cling to 
the old Commonwealth. The Black Republican 
tendency to put down all political opposition with 
the armed hand, or with the lettrede cachet, is per- 
petually conflicting with the State rights, which 
many true-hearted Americans value no less highly 
than their allegiance to the Union. The Democrats 
are almost strong enough to defy their opponents, 
even while the latter are in power ; and resistance 
to the Conscription may be only the beginning of 
a struggle that will terminate in a second solution 



284 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

of political continuity, not less earnest than the 
first. Listen to The World, of the 19th May, 
speaking of Vallandigham's arrest : 

" The blood that already makes crimson Virginian 
and Kentucky hill-sides, is but a drop to that 
which will flow on northern soil, when the Amer- 
ican people discover that the battle has begun to 
save the Constitution from tyrants." 

Brave words, these ! Yet, making allowance 
for editorial blatancy, they may contain a germ of 
bitter truth. When New York, the Empress City, 
has been threatfned with martial law, it is fair 
to conclude that Federaldom may soon have other 
enemies to deal with than those who are vexing 
her borders. 

No Grovernment can hope successfully to carry 
out the principle of arbitrary and irresponsible 
power, unless its standing ground be as unassaila- 
ble, and its resolves as unanimous as those of any 
individual autocrat. 

Yet, no administration — civil, political, or mili- 
tary — can be otherwise than unsound to the core 
where no mutual confidence or reliance subsists 
among its constituent members. Mr. Lincoln's 
Cabinet do not even keep up the appearances of a 
Happy Family ; in all the subordinate depart- 
ments, scarcely a week elapses without the pro- 
mulgation of some disgraceful scandal. For in- 
stance, last spring, before men had had time to 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 285 

discuss the gigantic Custom-house frauds, there 
appeared a quiet paragraph to the effect that one 
hundred and forty thousand dollars had disappeared 
mysteriously from the Navy Office on the eve of 
pay-day ; a huge reward was offered for the dis- 
covery of the criminal, or recovery of the money ; 
but even Unionists laughed openly at such an ad- 
vertisement, which probably did not cause the real 
robber, whoever he was, to turn once uneasily in 
his gorgeous bed. Even in the Commissariat, 
which, in all ages and in all armies, has been the 
presumed headquarters of the Autolyci, no one 
has yet emulated the evil renown of the Butlers 
at New Orleans (it was openly stated in Congress, 
and scarcely contradicted, that the profits and 
plunder carried off by that noble pair of brothers, 
exceeded seven millions of dollars) ; but many of 
the contractors appear to have used their opportu- 
nities much as if they were scrambling for eagles, 
or robbing '* against time." The corruption that 
has long prevailed in Congress, whenever a ^' pri- 
vate bill" is in question, has long been notorious ; 
but this, at least, was shrouded with ' thin vail 
of decorum which the peculators in military and 
civil high places disdained to encumber themselves 
with in these latter days. 

Instances of all this might be multiplied to wea- 
riness, but you have only to look at a week's files 
of any northern journal to be convinced of the 



286 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

existing state of things, which even the Black Re- 
publicans not nnfrequently bewail. 

There is another sort of extra-horse that the 
Government, or its organs, are fond of riding for a 
short " spell," when the others have been hacked 
rather too hardly. They have christened it — 
" Perfidious Albion.' To speak the truth, how- 
ever, the Anglophobia is not confined to the Abo- 
litionists or Republicans when anything occurs to 
make any particular journal cross or querulous, 
you are almost sure to meet, that same week, a 
sanguinary leader, with the threadbare motto — 
^^ Delcnda est Britannia.'''' Lately, it has been sug- 
gested that the most certain fact to secure the 
adhesion of the South, would be an invitation to 
join in an internecine war with England and 
France, with Canada and Mexico for prizes. 

Truly Secessia has little cause to love us ; for 
our practical sympathy with her in her dire strait 
has been confined to the furnishing of war-muni- 
tions at a moderate profit of three hundred per 
cent. ; yet, I think, even in such a cause, Georgia, 
Carolina, and Virginia would stand aloof, rather 
than dress up in line with the Yankee battalions. 
The mobocracy are " all for a muss," of course, as 
they always are till they see the glitter of bayo- 
nets ; but I cannot believe that the bellicose ideas 
thev are so fond of mooting have ever been seri- 
ously entertained by the Government. The Fed- 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 287 

eral navy is too utterly inefficient now, save for 
attack and defense along its own shores, to give 
cause for apprehension even to a second-class 
Power : it cannot even protect Northern com- 
merce. For a year or more, the Florida and Ala- 
bama have laughed at the beards of all the cruisers, 
and carry on depredation still with a high hand. 
The only grave aggression must be made on the 
frontier of Canada ; and there the invaders would 
be met by a militia quite as well drilled as them- 
selves, who have held their owm, once before, gal- 
lantly ; to say nothing of the reinforcement of our 
own regular army ; if the crack regiments of New 
York or Massachusetts should chance, in such a 
case, to find the Guards or Highlanders in their 
front, it is just possible that the " veterans" might 
have some fresh ideas as to the realities of a 
" charge, in line." 

Reading these bellicose articles, you are per^ 
petually reminded of the favorite national game 
of " Poker." In this, a player holding a very bad 
hand against a good one, may possibly " bluff" 
his adversary down, and win the stakes, if he only 
has confidence enough to go on piling up the money, 
so as to make his own weakness appear strength. 
That audacity answ^ers often happily enough, 
especially with the timid and inexperienced, but 
the professional gamblers tell you mournfully that 
they sometimes meet an opponent with equal 



28S BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

nerve and a longer purse ; then comes the fatal 
moment when the cards must be shown, and 
then — le quart d'heiire de Rabelais. I think, if ever 
Britannia is forced to " see" Federalia's " hand," 
the world that looks on will find that the latter 
has been " bluffing " to hide weakness. 

Nevertheless, I am far from undervaluing the 
actual strength of the northern land armies. 
They are composed of the most uncouth and 
heterogeneous materials ; but they work well 
enough after their own rough fashion, and certainly 
recover surprisingly fast from temporary discom- 
fiture ; it is difficult to believe that the troops 
who met Lee so gallantly at Gettysburg were the 
same who recrossed the Rappahannock in sullen 
despondency, after Chancellorsville. But the 
foreign element in the Federal forces must soon 
grow dangerously strong; it should never be for- 
gotten that the foreigners, attracted by enormous 
bounty, even if they be of Anglo-Saxon blood, can 
be but mercenaries, after all ; and, in history, the 
Swiss almost monopolize the glory of mercenary 
fidelity. Such subsidies can only be relied on 
when pay is prompt and work plenty : irregu- 
larity or inaction will soon breed discontent, fol- 
lowed by some such revolt as menaced the exist- 
ence of Carthage. 

These are some of the causes which, as it seems 
to me, even now neutralize, to a great extent, the 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 289 

really vast resources of the North, and will some 
day imperil her very existence as a nation — united 
in her present form. Now, as to the event of the 
struggle. 

I believe amalgamation, or any other terms than 
absolute subjugation of the South — to be main- 
tained hereafter by armies of occupancy — simply 
impracticable. This — not only on the grounds of 
political and social antagonism before alluded to ; 
but because this contest has been waged after a 
fashion almost unknown in the later days of civil- 
ization. I do not speak of open warfare on 
stricken fields, or even of pitiless slaughter 
wrought by those who, when their blood is hot, 
"do not their work negligently;" but of bitter 
by-blows, dealt on either side, such as humanity 
cannot lightly forget or forgive — of passions roused, 
that will rankle savagely long after this generation 
shall be dust. There remains the chance of utter- 
ly quelling and annihilating the insurrection (I 
speak as a Federal) with the strong hand. 

On the one side is ranged an innumerable mul- 
titude — who can hardly be looked upon as a dis- 
tinct nation, for in it mingles all the blood of 
Western Europe — doggedly determined, perhaps, 
to persevere in its purpose, yet strangely apathetic 
when a crisis seems really imminent — easily dis- 
couraged by reverses, and fatally prone to discon- 
tent and distrust of all ruling powers — divided by 
13 



290 BORDER AND BASTILLE. 

political jealousies, often more bitter than the 
hatred of the Commonwealth's foe — mingling 
always with their patriotism a certain commercial 
calculation, that if all tales are true, makes them, 
from the highest to the lowest, peculiarly open to 
the temptations of the Almighty Dollar ; these 
men are fighting for a positive gain, for the re- 
acquisition of a vast territory, that if they win, 
they must watch, as Russia has watched Poland. 

On the other side I see a real nation, numeri- 
cally small, in whose veins the Anglo-Saxon blood 
flows almost untainted ; I see rich men casting 
down their gold, and strong men casting down their 
lives, as if both were dross, in the cause they have 
sworn to win ; I see Sybarites enduring hardships 
that un vieiix de la vieille would have grumbled at, 
without a whispered murmur ; I hear gentle and 
tender women echo in simple earnestness the 
words that once were spoken to me by a fair 
Southern wife — " I pray that Philip may die in 
the front, and that they may burn me in the plan- 
tation, before the Confederacy makes peace on 
any terms but our own." I see that reverses, 
instead of making this people cashier their gen- 
erals, or cavil at their rulers, only intensifies their 
fierce energy of resistance. Here men are fight- 
ing—not to gain a foot of ground, but simply to 
hold their own, with the liberty which they be- 
lieve to be their birthright. 



SLAVERY AND THE WAR. 291 

It may well be that darker days are in store for 
the South than she has ever yet known ; it may 
be that she will only attain her object at the cost 
of utter commercial ruin; it may be that the char- 
ity of the European Powers is exhausted on Po- 
land, and that neither pity nor shame will induce 
them to break a thankless neutrality, here ; but 
in the face of all barely probable contingencies, I 
doubt no more of the ultimate result, than I doubt 
of the ultimate performance of the justice of 
God. 



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